Galatians 5:7

Run well. Paul repeatedly compares the Christian life to a race (1 Cor. 9:24, 26; Phil. 2:16; 2 Tim. 4:7; Heb. 12:1). The Galatians had “run well” until the coming of the Judaizers (see on Gal. 1:6, 7; 3:1). They had set out on the Christian race with ardor and zeal.

Did hinder. Gr. anakopto, “to beat back,” “to check,” as a ship in its course. As a military term it referred, for instance, to breaking up a road or destroying a bridge or placing obstacles in the way of an enemy, to halt his advance. There were obviously some who troubled the Galatians (ch. 1:7) and “bewitched” them (ch. 3:1). These were, of course, the Judaizers (see p. 932).

This persuasion. That is, persuasion to accept the teachings of the Judaizers.

Him that calleth. That is, Paul, or perhaps God speaking through Paul (see on Gal. 1:6; cf. 2 Cor. 5:19, 20). God could not have so persuaded them, nor could Paul. There must have been something peculiarly fascinating about the teaching of the Judaizers, for so many of the early Christians were seduced by it and so much of what Paul wrote warned against it (see pp. 33, 932). At this distance it seems almost as strange that Christians were lured into Judaizing as that in OT times the Jews were lured into idolatry.