You were running well; who hindered 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?
- BSB You were running so well. Who has obstructed you from obeying the truth?
- NKJV You ran 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 9:24Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win.
- Gal 3:1Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified?
- Heb 12:1Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
- Matt 13:21yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
- 1 Pet 1:22Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently:
- Rom 2:8but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation,
- Heb 5:9Having been made perfect, he became to all of those who obey him the author of eternal salvation,
- 2 Cor 10:5throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;
- Rom 10:16But they didn’t all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”
- Rom 16:26—
- Acts 6:7The word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
- Rom 15:18For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which Christ worked through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed,
- Rom 6:17But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered.
- Heb 11:8By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went.
- 2 Th 1:8giving vengeance to those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News 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.