You were running so well. Who has obstructed you from obeying the truth?
Parallel translations
- WEB You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth?
- KJV Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
- NKJV You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
- NASB You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?
- NLT You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Galatians had been running well until someone hindered them from obeying the truth. Paul laments how false teaching has tripped up their progress.
Overview
Using the image of a footrace, Paul recalls the Galatians' good start in the faith and grieves their interruption by the agitators. The 'truth' is the gospel they were abandoning. The verse warns how easily false teaching can derail believers and calls them to recognize who has obstructed their course.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 1 Cor 9:24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize.
- Gal 3:1O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
- Heb 12:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.
- Matt 13:21But since he has no root, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
- 1 Pet 1:22Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.
- Rom 2:8But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.
- Heb 5:9And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him
- 2 Cor 10:5We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
- Rom 10:16But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”
- Rom 16:26but now revealed and made known through the writings of the prophets by the command of the eternal God, in order to lead all nations to the obedience that comes from faith—
- Acts 6:7So the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew rapidly, and a great number of priests became obedient to the faith.
- Rom 15:18I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed,
- Rom 6:17But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.
- Heb 11:8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.
- 2 Th 1:8in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 5:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.