| Geneva Study Bible 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. People's New Testament 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you. If you be circumcised in order to keep the Mosaic law. See PNT Ga 5:2. Ye have fallen from grace. By resorting to the law for salvation. Wesley's Notes 5:4 Therefore Christ is become of no effect to you - Who seek to be justified by the law. Ye are fallen from grace - Ye renounce the new covenant. Ye disclaim the benefit of this gracious dispensation. Scofield Reference Notes Margin no effect i.e. of no experimental effect: the sense of liberty is lost. Gal 2:21 Col 1:23. Margin grace Grace (in salvation). Eph 1:6,7 Rom 3:24. See Scofield Note: "Gal 1:6", See Scofield Note: "Jn 1:17". Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 4. Literally, "Ye have become void from Christ," that is, your connection with Christ has become void (Ga 5:2). Ro 7:2, "Loosed from the law," where the same Greek occurs as here. whosoever of you are justified-"are being justified," that is, are endeavoring to be justified. by the law-Greek, "IN the law," as the element in which justification is to take place. fallen from grace-Ye no longer "stand" in grace (Ro 5:2). Grace and legal righteousness cannot co-exist (Ro 4:4, 5; 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 any degree for justifying righteousness, severs himself from the grace which flows from Christ's fulfilment of it, and becomes "a debtor to do the whole law" (Ga 5:3). The decree of the Jerusalem council had said nothing so strong as this; it had merely decided that Gentile Christians were not bound to legal observances. But the Galatians, while not pretending to be so bound, imagined there was an efficacy in them to merit a higher degree of perfection (Ga 3:3). This accounts for Paul not referring to the decree at all. He took much higher ground. See Paley's Horę Paulinę. The natural mind loves outward fetters, and is apt to forge them for itself, to stand in lieu of holiness of heart. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 5:1-6 Christ will not be the Saviour of any who will not own and rely upon him as their only Saviour. Let us take heed to the warnings and persuasions of the apostle to stedfastness in the doctrine and liberty of the gospel. All true Christians, being taught by the Holy Spirit, wait for eternal life, the reward of righteousness, and the object of their hope, as the gift of God by faith in Christ; and not for the sake of their own works. The Jewish convert might observe the ceremonies or assert his liberty, the Gentile might disregard them or might attend to them, provided he did not depend upon them. No outward privileges or profession will avail to acceptance with God, without sincere faith in our Lord Jesus. True faith is a working grace; it works by love to God, and to our brethren. May we be of the number of those who, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. The danger of old was not in things of no consequence in themselves, as many forms and observances now are. But without faith working by love, all else is worthless, and compared with it other things are of small value. | 
