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Gal_5:1. Τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ ἡμᾶς Χριστὸς ἠλευθέρωσεν ] On this reading, see the critical notes. The sentence forms, with Gal_4:31, the basis of the exhortation which follows, στήκετε οὖν κ . τ . λ . See on Gal_4:31. For freedom, in order that we should be free and should remain so, that we should not again become subject to bondage, Christ has set us free (Gal_4:1-7), namely, from the bondage of the στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου (Gal_4:3). The dative τῇ ἐλευθ . is therefore commodi, not instrumenti. Comp. also Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 155; Holsten, Hofmann, Reithmayr. By so taking it, and by attending to the emphasis, which lies not on Χριστός , but on the τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ following immediately after τῆς ἐλευθέρας in Gal_4:31, we obviate entirely the objection of Rückert (comp. Matthies and Olshausen) that Paul must have written: Χ . ἡμᾶς ἐλευθερὶᾳ ἠλευθέρωσεν , or εἰς ἐλευθ ., or τῇ ἐλευθ . ταύτῃ , or ἣν ἔχομεν , or some other addition of the kind.
στήκετε οὖν ] stand fast therefore, namely, in the freedom, which is to be inferred from what goes before; hence the absence of connection with τῇ ἐλευθ . does not produce any obscurity or abruptness (in opposition to Reiche). On the absolute στήκετε , which obtains its reference from the context, comp. 2Th_2:15.
καὶ μὴ πάλιν κ . τ . λ .] and be not again held in a yoke of bondage. Previously they had been (most of them) in the yoke of heathenism; now they were on the point of being held in the yoke of Mosaism (only another kind of the στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου ). The yoke is conceived as laid on the neck: Act_15:10; Sir_51:26; Dem. 322. 12; Hom. H. Cer. 217. As to πάλιν , comp. on Gal_4:9. δουλείας denotes the characteristic quality belonging to the yoke. Comp. Soph. Aj. 924: πρὸς οἷα δουλείας ζυγὰ χωροῦμεν . Eur. Or. 1330; Plat. Legg. vi. p. 770 E: δούλειον ζυγόν , Ep. 8, p. 354 D; Dem. 322. 12; Herod. vii. 8.
ἐνέχεσθαι , with the dative (Dem. 1231. 15; 2Ma_5:18; 3Ma_6:10) or with ἐν (Dem. 1069. 9), is the proper expression for those who are held either in a physical (net or the like) or ethical (law, dogma, emotion, sin, or the like) restriction of liberty, so that they cannot get out. See Kypke in loc., and Markland ad Lys. V. p. 37, Reisk. Here, on account of the idea of a yoke, the reference is physical, but used as a figurative representation for that which is mental, which affects the conscience.
Note.
If we take the reading of the Recepta, and of Griesbach and his followers (see the critical notes), we must explain it: “In respect of the freedom, [therefore], for which Christ has set us free, stand fast, and become not again, etc.!”—so that τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ is to be taken like τῇ πίστει in 2Co_1:24 and Rom_4:20, and ᾗ as the dative commodi (Morus, Winer, Reiche). ᾗ might also (with the Vulgate, Luther, Beza, Calvin, Piscator, Rückert, Schott, Hilgenfeld, Wieseler, and many others) be taken as ablative (instrumentally): “qua nos liberavit,” after the analogy of the classical expressions ζῆν βίῳ , ὗσαι ὕδατι κ . τ . λ . (Bernhardy, p. 107; Lobeck, Paral, p. 523 ff.), and of the frequent use both in the LXX. and the N.T. (Winer, p. 434 [E. T. 584]) of “cognate” nouns in the dative. But this mode of expression does not occur elsewhere with Paul, not even in 1Th_3:9. According to Schott, Ewald, and Matthias, who join it to Gal_4:31 (see the critical notes), we get the meaning: “We are not children of a bond-maid, but of the free woman through the freedom, with which Christ made us free; stand fast therefore.” Thus τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ ἧ ἡμᾶς Χριστ . ἠλευθ . becomes a self-evident appendage; and Χριστός receives an emphasis, just as in Gal_3:13, which its position does not warrant.