Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 5:4
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
4. The same great and solemn truth is repeated in different terms. “Christ shall profit you nothing” = “a debtor to do the whole law” (and therefore under a curse in consequence of failure) = “Christ is of no effect unto you” = “ye are fallen from grace”. Similarly, “if ye become circumcised” = “every man that submits to circumcision” = “justified by the law”.
Christ is become of no effect ] Lit. ‘ye were cut off from Christ’, brought to nought as regards any benefit accruing to you from Him.
are justified by the law ] i.e. seek to be justified by the law.
ye are fallen ] Probably, ‘ye are cast forth’ (like Hagar and her son), banished from grace. The Apostle is not here stating anything as to the possibility of recovery after such a relapse. His object is to make it quite clear that if righteousness (or justification) is sought in the law (i.e. by works) it involves the forfeiture of grace, and the forfeiture of grace is ruin.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Christ is become of no effect unto you – You will derive no advantage from Christ. His work in regard to you is needless and vain. If you can be justified in any other way than by him, then of course you do not need him, and your adoption of the other mode is in fact a renunciation of him. Tyndale renders this: Ye are gone quite from Christ. The word here used ( katargeo), means properly, to render inactive, idle, useless; to do away, to put an end to; and here it means that they had withdrawn from Christ, if they attempted to be justified by the Law. They would not need him if they could be thus justified; and they could derive no benefit from him. A man who can be justified by his own obedience, does not need the aid or the merit of another; and if it was true, as they seemed to suppose, that they could be justified by the Law, it followed that the work of Christ was in vain so far as they were concerned.
Whosoever of you are justified by the law – On the supposition that any of you are justified by the Law; or if, as you seem to suppose, any are justified by the Law. The apostle does not say that this had in fact ever occurred; but he merely makes a supposition. If such a thing should or could occur, it would follow that you had fallen from grace.
Ye are fallen from grace – That is, this would amount to apostasy from the religion of the Redeemer, and would be in fact a rejection of the grace of the gospel. That this had ever in fact occurred among true Christians the apostle does not affirm unless he affirmed that people can in fact be justified by the Law, since he makes the falling from grace a consequence of that. But did Paul mean to teach that? Did he mean to affirm that any man in fact had been, or could be justified by his own obedience to the Law? Let his own writings answer; see, especially, Rom 3:20. But unless he held that, then this passage does not prove that anyone who has ever been a true Christian has fallen away. The fair interpretation of the passage does not demand that. Its simple and obvious meaning is, that if a man who has been a professed Christian should be justified by his own conformity to the Law, and adopt that mode of justification, then that would amount to a rejection of the mode of salvation by Christ, and would be a renouncing of the plan of justification by grace. The two systems cannot be united. The adoption of the one is, in fact, a rejection of the other. Christ will be a whole Saviour, or none. This passage, therefore. cannot be adduced to prove that any true Christian has in fact fallen away from grace, unless it proves also that man may be justified by the deeds of the Law, contrary to the repeated declarations of Paul himself. The word grace here, does not mean grace in the sense of personal religion, it means the system of salvation by grace, in contradistinction from that by merit or by works – the system of the gospel.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gal 5:4
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are Justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
Is Christ preached of no effect
I think, the sum and substance of my text amounts simply to this: that the attempt to add anything to Christs perfect work in the salvation of a ruined sinner, is an entire rejection of Christ, and makes the man an infidel.
I. First of all, let us look a little to the effect. Now what effect has been produced upon your hearts by the preaching of the gospel? I will tell you three effects produced upon the hearts of many. In the first place, the preaching of Christ has produced the effect of pardon sealed upon the conscience–but not where justification is looked for from the law; in the second place, where Christ is preached and embraced by faith, reconciliation to all Gods method of saving sinners, and to all Gods dispensations, is wrought in the heart; and thirdly, the effect–and the prime effect–included in the covenant of grace, and registered in heaven to be carried into execution, is a vital oneness of soul with Jesus.
II. A few words now respecting the apostasy. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are seeking to be justified by the law. I pray you, mark what an awful extent of apostasy this one short sentence proves: that all those, who are cherishing vain hopes of justification before God, in whole or in part, from anything that the creature does, or anything proposed to the creature, have no effect from Christ; they are rejecting Christ. I would have you think seriously upon this. You know, we do not now dwell upon the term ,, circumcision, nor yet the keeping of the ceremonial law: only we insist, that these are phrases, which set forth the folly and rebellion of attempting to put anything of the creature along with the perfect work of Christ. One single condition, if it be but an act of obedience, if it be but a word, if it be but a thought–one single condition or contingency left with man, seals his damnation for ever. If the preaching of the Word of God does not give man a salvation without a contingency, it gives him none at all.
III. A word or two now, relative to the apostles testimony against this apostasy. Ah! I fear there are many such professors in these days; who receive the doctrines of grace as a whole in theory, but by and by abandon them for the first theory that seems more pleasing to their fleshly natures. Fallen from grace marks, then, a rejection of the doctrine once embraced or received–the doctrine once admitted to be correct. I think there is another class that might be included in this; and that is, the great class who hold the doctrines of grace while living in habits of sin. (J. Irons, D. D.)
Although the law cannot justify, it has a value
Money doth not justify, is it therefore unprofitable? The eyes do not justify, must they therefore be plucked out? The hands make not a man righteous, must they therefore be cut off? We must attribute to everything its proper effect and use. If the law doth not justify we have no right to condemn or destroy it; it is good, as St. Paul tells us, if a man do rightly use it; that is to say, if he use the law as law. (Luther.)
Falling from grace
If Satan cannot hinder the birth of graces, then he labours to be the death of graces. This is too ordinary, to see a Christian lose his first love, and to fall from his first works. This love that was formerly an ascending flame, always sparkling up to heaven, is now, like a little spark, almost suffocated with the earth. The godly sorrow that was once a swelling torrent, like Jordan overflowing his banks, is now like Jobs summer brook, which makes the traveller ashamed. His proceedings against sin, once furious, like the march of Jehu against Ahab; but now, like Samson, he can sleep in Delilahs lap while she steals away his strength. Before, he could not give rest to his eyes till God had given rest to his soul; but now he can lie down with sin in his bosom, and wounds in his conscience. At first, his zeal did eat him up; but now his decayings have omen up his zeal. (Foster.)
Falling away
As leaves fall from the trees, so the grace of God decay, and drop away, in the wicked, one after another, as if there was a consumption. (Cawdray.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Christ is become of no effect unto you] It is vain for you to attempt to unite the two systems. You must have the law and no Christ, or Christ and no law, for your justification.
Ye are fallen from grace.] From the Gospel. They had been brought into the grace of the Gospel; and now, by readopting the Mosaic ordinances, they had apostatized from the Gospel as a system of religion, and had lost the grace communicated to their souls, by which they were preserved in a state of salvation. The peace and love of God, received by Jesus Christ, could not remain in the hearts of those who had rejected Christ. They had, therefore, in every sense of the word, fallen from grace; and whether some of them ever rose again is more than we can tell.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The word here translated become of no effect, is used Rom 3:3. By those who
are justified by the law, are to be understood such as seek or desire to be justified by the law, for actually none is so justified. The sense is: Whoever seeketh to be justified by the works of the law, he disclaimeth the righteousness of Christ; to him Christs death signifieth nothing, nor is of any virtue at all. For he had told us before, Gal 2:21; If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain: and Rom 8:3,4; What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, & c. The very end of Christs coming and dying was to supply us with a righteousness, which (apprehended by faith) should be reckoned to us as ours, wherein we might stand before God. Which end of Christs death had been frustrated, if, through our flesh, there had not been such a weakness or impotency in the law as to justification. So as if any still looked for justification by performance of the law, as such made the death of Christ in vain, because if such a thing could have been done that way there had been no need of Christs dying; so they also made it, which was not in vain in itself, yet in vain and of no effect to their souls, because Christ would not be a partial cause in the justification of a soul.
Ye are fallen from grace; and they, by this, renounced the grace of God exhibited in the gospel, and fell from the grace of it. For by grace here is not to be understood a state of grace, (from which none can fall totally and finally), but the grace of the gospel; by which is signified the free love of God in it exhibited, offering Christ to sinners for righteousness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. Literally, “Ye havebecome void from Christ,” that is, your connection with Christhas become void (Ga 5:2). Ro7:2, “Loosed from the law,” where the same Greekoccurs as here.
whosoever of you arejustified“are being justified,” that is, areendeavoring to be justified.
by the lawGreek,“IN the law,” asthe element in which justification is to take place.
fallen from graceYe nolonger “stand” in grace (Ro5:2). Grace and legal righteousness cannot co-exist (Rom 4:4;Rom 4:5; Rom 11:6).Christ, by circumcision (Lu 2:21),undertook to obey all the law, and fulfil all righteousness for us:any, therefore, that now seeks to fulfil the law for himself in anydegree for justifying righteousness, severs himself from the gracewhich flows from Christ’s fulfilment of it, and becomes “adebtor to do the whole law” (Ga5:3). The decree of the Jerusalem council had said nothing sostrong as this; it had merely decided that Gentile Christians werenot bound to legal observances. But the Galatians, while notpretending to be so bound, imagined there was an efficacy inthem to merit a higher degree of perfection (Ga3:3). This accounts for Paul not referring to the decree at all.He took much higher ground. See PALEY’SHor Paulin. The natural mind loves outward fetters, and isapt to forge them for itself, to stand in lieu of holiness of heart.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Christ is become of no effect unto you,…. Or “ye are abolished from Christ”; or as others by an “hypallage” read the words, “Christ is abolished unto you”; for by their seeking for justification by their own works, it was all one to them as if there was no Christ, and no righteousness in him, and no salvation by him; they had nothing to do with him, nor he with them:
whosoever of you are justified by the law; that is, who sought to be justified by their obedience to the law, or who thought they were, and trusted in themselves that they were righteous; for otherwise, by the deeds of the law, no flesh living can be justified:
ye are fallen from grace; that is, either from that grace which they professed to have; for there might be some in these churches, as in others, who were only nominal Christians, and formal professors; who had declared they saw themselves lost and undone sinners, destitute of a righteousness, and professed to believe in Christ alone for righteousness and strength, but now trusted in themselves, and in the works of the law: or from the scheme of grace in the whole of man’s salvation, which will admit of no mixture of works; either it is one or the other, it cannot be both; wherefore by their taking on the side of works, they showed that they had entirely dropped the scheme of grace: or else from the Gospel of the grace of God, from whence they were removed, through the influence of false teachers; particularly the doctrine of free justification by the grace of God, through the righteousness of Christ; which was entirely set aside by their seeking to be instilled by the works of the law; and from this they might be said to be fallen, who were on such a bottom.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ye are severed from Christ ( ). First aorist passive of , to make null and void as in Rom 7:2; Rom 7:6.
Who would be justified by the law ( ). Present passive conative indicative, “ye who are trying to be justified in the law.”
Ye are fallen away from grace ( ). Second aorist active indicative of (with variable vowel of the first aorist) and followed by the ablative case. “Ye did fall out of grace,” “ye left the sphere of grace in Christ and took your stand in the sphere of law” as your hope of salvation. Paul does not mince words and carries the logic to the end of the course. He is not, of course, speaking of occasional sins, but he has in mind a far more serious matter, that of substituting law for Christ as the agent in salvation.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Christ is become of no effect unto you [ ] . Incorrect. Lit. ye were brought to nought from Christ. Comp. Rom 7:2, 6. Your union with Christ is dissolved. The statement is compressed and requires to be filled out. “Ye were brought to nought and so separated from Christ.” For similar instances see Rom 9:3; Rom 11:3. The ajpo from properly belongs to the supplied verb of separation. For the verb katargein see on Rom 3:3.
Ye are fallen from grace [ ] . For a similar phrase see 2Pe 3:17. Having put yourselves under the economy of salvation by law, you have fallen out of the economy of salvation by the grace of Christ. Paul ‘s declarations are aimed at the Judaisers, who taught that the Christian economy was to be joined with the legal. His point is that the two are mutually exclusive. Comp. Rom 4:4, 5, 14, 16. The verb ejkpiptein to fall out, in the literal sense, Act 12:7; Jas 1:11. In Class. of seamen thrown ashore, banishment, deprivation of an office, degeneration, of actors being hissed off the stage.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Christ is become of no effect unto you,” (katergethete apo Christ) “You all were discharged from Christ,” as regards rewards accruing to you from Christ, because of having turned from following the New Testament program of worship and service, to the deeds and bondage of law service and worship, 2Jn 1:8; 1Co 3:10-11; 1Co 3:15; Gal 2:21.
2) “Whosoever of you are justified by law;” (oitines en nomo dikaiousthe) “The ones of you who by law are justified.” Those who sought to be justified by law deeds, that is those being justified in their own minds, being deceived, thinking they were justified by keeping the law, were all fallen away from (out away from) the very purpose and calling of Grace to follow Christ, Luk 8:34; 1Co 11:1-2; Eph 3:21; The saved, the true believers, are to give glory to God, by Christ Jesus, in the church in this age –not in the deeds, ceremonies, and keeping of any part of the Law of Moses. That no man is actually justified or ever was so justified it is evident, Gal 2:16; Gal 3:11.
3) “Ye are fallen from Grace”, (tes charitos ekseperate) “You all fell from the grace; from the call of Grace, to follow Christ, not Moses, to work in the church, not in the system of Mosaic law worship.
Those saved who prefer bondage of law, to the liberty of Christ in His New Testament church, forfeit’ their heritage of joint-heirship with Jesus Christ, to be saved, “as if by fire”, without rewards, 1Co 3:15; Heb 12:15.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. Christ has become of no effect unto you. “If ye seek any part of righteousness in the works of the law, Christ has no concern with you, and ye are fallen from grace. ” They were not so grossly mistaken as to believe that by the observance of the law alone they were justified, but attempted to mix Christ with the law. In any other point of view, Paul’s threatenings would have utterly failed to produce alarm. “What are you doing? You deprive yourselves of every advantage from Christ, and treat his grace as if it were of no value whatever.” We see then that the smallest part of justification cannot be attributed to the law without renouncing Christ and his grace.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) Christ is become of no effect unto you.Literally, Ye were (or, more idiomatically, are) abolished, made nothing, from Christ; a condensed form of expression for, Ye are made nothing (unchristianised), and cut off from Christ. Your relations to Christ are cancelled, and you are Christians no longer.
Are justified.Strictly, seek to be justified.
Ye are fallen from grace.The Christian is justified by an act of grace, or free, unearned favour, on the part of God. He who seeks for justification in any other way loses this grace. Grace is not here a state or disposition in the believer, but a divine act or relation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Christ of no effect Literal Greek, Ye are abolished from Christ; a very energetic phrase. It states in very strong language the fact, that, however true their previous Christian faith and character, the act of circumcision, as required by the Judaists, involved a complete apostasy, and loss of both justification and regeneration.
Fallen from grace There is no grace from Christ for you, and you are under the law and complete condemnation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gal 5:4 . But whosoever is justified through the law a way of justification which necessarily follows from the already mentioned obligation is separated from Christ, etc. A complete explanation is thus given as to the . Asyndetic (without ), and reverting to the second person, the language of Paul is the more emphatic and vivid.
] In the first clause the stress is laid upon the dread separation which has befallen them, in the second on the benefit thereby lost, a striking alternation of emphasis. The pregnant expression, (comp. Rom 9:3 ; 2Co 11:3 ; see generally, Fritzsche ad Rom . II. p. 250), is to be resolved into , that is, to come to nothing in regard to the relation hitherto subsisting with any one, so that we are parted from him . Just the same in Rom 7:2 ; Rom 7:6 . Hence the sense is: your connection with Christ is annulled, cancelled ; , Oecumenius. Justification by the law and justification for Christ’s sake are in truth opposita (works faith), so that the one excludes the other.
] ye who are being justified through the law . The directly assertive and present is said from the mental standpoint of the subjects concerned, in whose view of the matter the way of salvation is this: “through the law, with which our conduct agrees (comp. Gal 3:11 ), we become just before God.” Hence the concrete statement is not to be weakened either by taking in the sense of , Gal 2:17 (Rckert, Baumgarten-Crusius, and earlier expositors), or by attributing a hypothetical sense to (Hofmann, who erroneously compares Thuc. v. 16. 1). Whomsoever Paul hits with his . . ., he also means .
] that is, ye have forfeited the relation of being objects of divine grace . The opposite: (Rom 6:14 ), to which divine grace faith has led (Rom 5:2 ). On the figurative , comp. 2Pe 3:17 ; Plut. Gracch . 21: , Polyb. xii. 14. 7; Lucian, Cont . 14; Sir 31:4 . Whoever becomes righteous by obedience to the law, becomes se no longer by the grace of God ( , Rom 3:24 ), but by works according to desert (Rom 4:11 ; Rom 4:16 ; Rom 11:6 ); so that thus his relation of grace towards God (which is capable of being lost ) has ceased .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
Ver. 4. Christ is become of none effect ] Woe then to popish merit mongers. William Wickham, founder of New College, though he did many good works, yet he professed he trusted to Jesus Christ alone for salvation. So did Charles V, emperor of Germany. So did many of our forefathers in times of Popery. (Parei Hist. Profan. medul. Dr Ussher on Eph 4:13 )
Ye are fallen from grace ] It cannot hence be concluded that the apostle speaks conditionally, and it may be understood of the true doctrine of God’s free grace.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4 .] Explains and establishes still further the assertion of Gal 5:2 .
Ye were annihilated from Christ (literally: the construction is a pregnant one, ‘ye were cut off from Christ, and thus made void:’ see ref. 2 Cor. ‘ were ,’ viz. at the time when you began your course of .), ye who are being justified (‘endeavouring to be justified,’ ‘seeking justification:’ such is the force of the subjective present . So Thl. ) in (not ‘by:’ it is the element in which, as in the expression ) the law, ye fell from (reff.: see 1Co 13:8 , note. Wetst. quotes from Plut., Agis and Cleom. p. 796, : Gracch. p. 834, . . ‘So Plato, Rep. vi. 496, : Polyb. xii. 14. 7, ,’ Ellic.) grace.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Gal 5:4 . . This verb is applied with comprehensive force to any destruction of growth and life, physical or spiritual, beneficial or deleterious. Joined with it denotes the loss of some essential element of life by the severance of previous intimate relations, e.g. , annulment by death of a wife’s obligations to her husband (Rom 7:2 ), and emancipation from the control of the Law by spiritual death (Rom 7:6 ). Here, in like manner, it denotes the paralysis of spiritual life by severance of union with Christ. This paralysis produces a deadening effect on the whole spiritual nature, and results in the continuous craving for legal justification which is expressed by . . As the quasi-passive verb corresponds to the active verb , this aorist corresponds to in Gal 4:30 ; so that the combination of with contains a special allusion to the doom of Ishmael, who suffered the loss of his inheritance at the same time that he was cast out from his father’s house. Disloyal children of God, who prefer bondage to filial freedom, have by their own act forfeited the birthright of sons, and been cast out from His favour and blessing.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Christ is, &c. Literally Ye were severed (Greek. katargeo See Ltke Gal 13:7) from (Greek. apo) Christ (Gal 5:1).
justified. Greek. dikaioo. App-191.
by = in. Greek. en. App-104.
the = Omit.
fallen = fallen off.
grace. Greek. charis, App-184.,
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4.] Explains and establishes still further the assertion of Gal 5:2.
Ye were annihilated from Christ (literally: the construction is a pregnant one, ye were cut off from Christ, and thus made void: see ref. 2 Cor. were, viz. at the time when you began your course of .), ye who are being justified (endeavouring to be justified, seeking justification: such is the force of the subjective present. So Thl. ) in (not by: it is the element in which, as in the expression ) the law,-ye fell from (reff.: see 1Co 13:8, note. Wetst. quotes from Plut., Agis and Cleom. p. 796, : Gracch. p. 834, . . So Plato, Rep. vi. 496, : Polyb. xii. 14. 7, , Ellic.) grace.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Gal 5:4. [Engl. Vers. Christ is become of no effect]) Your connection with Christ is made void: so the Vulgate.[45] One might be inclined to say in German, ohne werden, to become without. Comp. Gal 5:2; Rom 7:2; Rom 7:6.-, are justified) Seek righteousness. In the middle voice.- , ye have fallen from grace) Comp. Gal 5:3. You have fallen from the New Testament, in all the wide comprehension of that expression. It is we that are and stand in grace, rather than grace is in us; comp. Rom 5:2.
[45] Evacuati estis a Christo. Wahl renders it, divelli et prorsus dimoveri a Christo, to be torn off and utterly parted asunder from Christ. Comp. , Rom 7:2.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Gal 5:4
Gal 5:4
Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law;-If they did the works of the law of Moses to be justified thereby, they gave up Christ, who came to deliver from the law and give justification through faith.
ye are fallen away from grace.-To turn to the law is to give up Christ and all that came through him-is to give up justification through faith. Salvation through Christ is salvation by grace. The grace, the favor, the love of God caused Jesus to suffer and die for sinful men. The salvation that came through Christ is salvation by grace in contrast with the works they came through the Jewish law. Grace means the favor, mercy, love exemplified in the salvation brought to man through Jesus Christ. Christ is called the grace of God, as embodying his mercy to man. For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world. (Tit 2:11-12). To turn from the gracious plan of redemption brought to light through Christ, to the law of Moses, was to fall from grace.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
no effect
grace
no effect i.e. of no experimental effect: the sense of liberty is lost. Gal 2:21; Col 1:23.
grace Grace (in salvation). Eph 1:6; Eph 1:7; Rom 3:24. (See Scofield “Gal 1:6”), See Scofield “Joh 1:17”.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
is: Gal 5:2, Gal 2:21, Rom 9:31, Rom 9:32, Rom 10:3-5
justified: Rom 3:20, Rom 4:4, Rom 4:5
ye: Gal 1:6-9, Rom 11:6, Heb 6:4-6, Heb 10:38, Heb 10:39, Heb 12:15, 2Pe 2:20-22, 2Pe 3:17, 2Pe 3:18, Rev 2:5
Reciprocal: Act 13:43 – the grace Act 15:24 – that certain Rom 2:13 – justified Rom 4:14 – For if Rom 5:1 – being 2Co 3:9 – the ministration of righteousness Gal 2:16 – that Gal 3:3 – having Gal 3:17 – none 1Ti 1:7 – to 1Ti 1:19 – concerning 2Ti 1:10 – abolished
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gal 5:4. , -Ye were done away from Christ, whoever of you are being justified by law. The article is doubtful. It is omitted in B, C, D1, F, , and by Lachmann; but it is found in A, D3, K, L, and almost all MSS., and it is inserted by Tischendorf. The first verb denotes the dissolution of all connection between them and Christ. It is not common in classic Greek, or even in the Septuagint where it occurs only four times; but it is one of the compound verbs often used by the apostle, and is here followed by . Rom 7:2; Rom 7:6. Fritzsche suggests that it is a structura praegnans- , Ad Rom 7:2, vol. ii. pp. 8, 9; Winer, 66, 2; Poppo’s Thucydides, 1.1, 292. The tense of the verb points to a previous time, the time when they began their course of defection-then they were done away from Christ. The sentence is an asyndeton, or without any connecting particle, and the syntax is changed to the second person-a sudden and striking application of the previous verse-as if reverting to the and of the second verse. He had said, Christ shall profit you nothing; and he explains the reason: Ye were done away from Christ, for He profits only those who are in union with Him. The branch cut off from the living trunk soon withers and dies. The emphasis is on the verb beginning the sentence (OEcumenius), on the perilous state described by it; and, that there may be no mistake, he adds with special point-
-whoever of you are justified by the law, or as being persons who. The compound points them out as a class-quippe qui. The is not distinctly instrumental, but as usual indicates the sphere, though it may be what Donaldson calls instrumental adjunct, 476. The law is regarded as that within which the supposed justification takes place, or, in another aspect, it is supposed to be the means of it. The present is what is called the subjective present-justified in their own feeling or opinion, (Theophylact). Schmalfeld, p. 91. De Wette and Windischmann give it the sense of justified in your idea and intention; who seek to be justified, Rckert and Baumgarten; and Bagge puts it still more remotely, who think that ye are to be, and so seek to be justified. But it is not the seeking of justification, but the dream of having it, that the apostle describes. When in their heart they thought themselves justified in the sphere of law, they became nullified from Christ; yea, he adds, -from grace ye fell away. is the Alexandrian mode of spelling for . Lobeck, Phryn. p. 724; Winer, 13, 1. With the genitive it signifies tropically to fall off or away from. 2Pe 3:17; Sir 34:7; Ast, Lexicon Platon. sub voce. is not here the subjective influence of grace, but is in opposition to . The contrast is implied in Rom 5:2. Compare 2Pe 3:17. Law and grace are in direct antagonism. Justification by the one is of debt, by the other is of favour. The justified person works out his acceptance in the one case; he simply receives it in the other. If a man then imagines that he is justified by law, he has renounced grace as the principle of justification. He who is circumcised comes under pledge to obey the whole law; but obedience to law is wholly different in nature and operation from faith in Christ, so that he who looks to law renounces connection with Christ. Christ’s method of justification is wholly of grace, and those who rely on law and merit are in opposition to grace-are fallen out of it. The clause has really no bearing on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, or on their possible apostasy. See, however, Wesselius in loc.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Gal 5:4. No effect is from KATARGEO, and in the King James Version it is rendered abolish 3 times, bring tonought 1, cumber 1, deliver 1, destroy 5, do away 3, loose 1, make of none effect 2, make void 1, make without effect 1, put away 1, put down 1, become of no effect 1, be to be done away 1, cease 1, come to nought 1, fail 1, vanish away 1. The Englishman’s Greek New Testament translates the first part of this verse as follows: “Ye are deprived of all effect from the Christ.” Justified is a key word in the present discussion, meaning to obtain spiritual or religious benefits from the law. A Jew was never deprived of the observances of the law if he did it only from the national standpoint, but he had no right to use it for any other purpose after Christ came. (See Rom 10:4.) Fallen from grace means to lose out in the divine favor. This statement of the apostle completely overturns the doctrine labeled “once in grace always in grace.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Gal 5:4. Ye are out off from Christ all ye who are being (or, would be) justified by (the) law; ye are fallen away from grace. Ye are cut off from Christ, completely separated from Him. The Greek verb means to be annulled, to be done away with. Your union with Christ was dissolved and came to nothing in the moment when you sought your justification in the law. Ye are fallen away from grace, not totally and finally (in which case the warning; would be useless), but for the time being. Looking to Gods promise and faithfulness, our salvation is sure; looking to our weakness and temptations, all is doubtful, unless we watch and pray without ceasing.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here another argument is used, to show that believers are dead to the ceremonial law, and are by no means to expect justification by it: Whosoever of you says the apostle is justified by the law, that is, whosoever seeks and endeavours to be so justified, (for in reality none can in that manner be justified,) Christ is become of no effect unto such persons; that is, they renounce Christ, and disdain benefit by his death. And they are fallen from grace; that is, fallen from Christianity, and the covenant of grace; they have forfeited the grace of the gospel, by cleaving to the ceremonial law, they are fallen from the doctrine of grace delivered in the gospel, and Christ is become of no effect unto them.
Learn from hence, That such persons as do believe that faith in Christ alone is not sufficient to justification and acceptance with God, without the observation of the abrogated law, do in effect disown their relation to Christ, and disclaim all benefit by his death: Christ is become of none effect, &c.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace. [Therefore, in being circumcised for the purpose of being justified by the law ye have been guilty of a complete apostasy; there is no longer any justification for you, for you are not under the grace of Christ, but rest under the condemnation of the law.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 4
Ye are fallen from grace; you give up all right to expect or hope for favor or mercy.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
Now, here we have a serious statement of fact from Paul, not that the person is lost, but that they have chosen to follow one of two paths toward salvation. One is the law which cannot save and the other is grace which will definitely save. If they have chosen to follow the law, they have chosen not to follow grace where they once stood. They have turned from or fallen from grace to follow the law.
Christ and grace cannot assist them in their desire to be justified by following the law. This is contrasted in the next verse with those believers that follow grace toward eternal salvation.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
5:4 Christ is {b} become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are {c} justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
(b) That is, as he himself expounds it afterward, “ye are fallen from grace.”
(c) That is, seek to be justified by the Law, for indeed no man is justified by the Law.