Galatians 5:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"But he who troubles you shall bear the judgment, whoever he may be." He urges them to correction from two sides. He encourages them, and he threatens and foretells punishment for the deceivers.

But note that nowhere does he name the plotters, lest he make them still more shameless. The meaning of his words is this: "Although you will not think otherwise, this will not deliver the authors of deception from punishment."

"They will be condemned, since it cannot be allowed that the piety of some should lessen the lot of others who are wicked in character." He says this so that the false teachers may not make the same assault upon others as well.

He did not simply say, "he who troubles," but strengthened the expression by saying, "whoever he may be."

"But he who troubles you shall bear condemnation, whoever he may be." Some say that by these words he attacks Peter, that he tears at Peter, whom, as he himself writes, he openly withstood to his face, because he did not walk with a right step in the truth of the Gospel. But Paul did not come out with such audacious reviling against the Apostle who held primacy in the Church. Nor did Peter deserve to be held answerable for troubling the Church.

It follows that Paul was speaking of someone else, who either was with the Apostles, or came from Judea, or had believed from among the Pharisees. Whoever he was, he was perhaps regarded as great among the Galatians, so as to bear condemnation for troubling the Church.

It follows that we should think he speaks of someone else, who either was with the Apostles, or came from Judea, or had believed from among the Pharisees. Or perhaps he was regarded as great among the Galatians, so as to bear condemnation for troubling the Church, whoever he may be.

To bear condemnation means the same as is expressed elsewhere in these words: "Each one shall bear his own burden." I think that the word burden in Scripture can be understood in both a good and a bad sense. It is used both of those who are weighed down by grave sins and of those who bear the light burden of virtues.

Concerning those who have sinned, the penitent says in the Psalm: "My iniquities have gone over my head. Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me" (Ps 38:4). Concerning the virtues and the teaching of virtue, the Savior says: "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Mt 11:30).

That teaching too is sometimes understood under the meaning of burden is clear from the Gospel. The Pharisees bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to touch them even with one finger (Mt 23:4).

How grave the transgression is of troubling peace and stirring up clear hearts with stormy waves is testified by the Savior's words to the Apostles: "Let not your heart be troubled. Do not fear" (Jn 14:1). For it would be better for one who troubles and scandalizes anyone in the Church that a millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be cast with it into the sea, than for him to scandalize one of these little ones instructed by the Savior.

Thus the Galatians were troubled concerning spirit and letter, circumcision and cutting, hidden and visible Judaism, and they did not know what to do. More briefly, it may also be understood this way. Whoever he is who draws you aside into the teaching of the Pharisees and desires fleshly circumcision, even if he is eloquent and boasts in knowledge of the Law, I say nothing more than what you yourselves cannot deny: he will bear condemnation for this deed, and for his labor he will receive the fitting recompense.

St. John Chrysostom says: "He did not say, 'you understand,' but, 'you will understand,' that is, you will be corrected. How do we know this? Again, he did not say, 'I know,' but, 'I trust God,' he says. With firm hope he calls upon His help for your correction."

"He spoke with boldness, and did not simply say, 'I have hope concerning you,' but added, 'in the Lord.' It is as though he said: I know my disciples. I know how easily you can be corrected."

"Yet I hope for this through the Lord, Who desires no one's destruction. Through Him I also hope in you, who can easily return to your former state. But at the same time he persuades them to bring their own zeal. It is impossible to receive anything from God if we bring nothing from our side."

"St. Paul urges them to rise up from two sides: by hope in them, and by threat or prediction of punishment for the agitators. He did not simply say, 'he who troubles,' but strengthened the expression by adding, 'whoever he may be.'"

"Since people said of the Apostle himself that he observed Jewish rites and preached uncircumcision hypocritically, see how he showed himself free from this slander, calling them themselves as witnesses. You yourselves know, he says, that the cause of the persecutions against me was that I taught men to leave the Law."

"If I preached circumcision, why would they persecute me? What then? Did I not preach circumcision? Did I not circumcise Timothy? I did. How then does he say, 'I do not preach it'? Note his caution here also. He did not say, 'I do not perform circumcision,' but, 'I do not preach it,' that is, I do not teach men to believe in this way."

Concerning the Apostle's desire for the cutting off of the false teachers, Bishop Theophan says: "One cannot fail to see here the law of life in the body of the Church: to reject and cast out those who do not obey the truth and teach contrary to it."

But from this one must rise to everything else that the Apostle has explained. He says to them: I hope that you will be minded as I am, that you will adopt my way of viewing Judaism, and that you will act accordingly.

As for the hope, some think that it naturally arose in the Apostle, who knew the Galatians' love for the truth. They had been carried away by deception and, in simplicity of heart, had accepted as truth what was not true. After the explanations he had given, he did not doubt that they would abandon falsehood and return to the truth.

Others suppose that this hope of the Apostle flowed from his firm trust in God, who wills all to come to the knowledge of the truth. Still others rise higher and say that the Apostle spoke thus in a prophetic spirit. The Spirit of God gave him to see the sobering of the Galatians, and he expresses this as hope concerning them.

Thus Ambrosiaster writes: "The Apostle hopes this from them because they did not enter the path of error by themselves, but were deceived. Therefore, having shown them the true path, he expects that they will easily return to it."

Saint Chrysostom says: "He did not say, 'You are minded,' but, 'You will be minded,' that is, you will be corrected. How do you know this? Yet again he did not say, 'I know,' but, 'I trust in God,' he says, and with firm hope I call upon His aid for your correction. He did not say with boldness and simply, 'I have confidence in you,' but added, 'in the Lord.' Everywhere he loves to temper reproofs with praises. It is as though he said: I know my disciples. I know how readily you can be corrected. Yet I hope for this through the Lord, who does not will anyone to perish. Through Him I also hope in you, who can easily return to your former state. At the same time he persuades them to add their own effort, since it is impossible to receive anything from God if we bring nothing from our own side."

Blessed Jerome reasons thus: "Saint Paul did not say by conjecture, but in a prophetic spirit, that the Galatians would return to the truth which they had nearly abandoned. Foreseeing in the Spirit that they would believe no otherwise than as he teaches them in the Epistle, he says, 'I have confidence.' The addition of the Lord's name means the same thing. If he had thought this merely by conjecture, he would have said, 'I have confidence in you.' But by adding, 'in the Lord,' he showed that he prophesies about what, being led by the Spirit of God, he knew would come to pass."

How is the second half of this text, "but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment," connected with the first? According to the usual flow of our speech, one would expect a threat against them: I hope that you will be corrected, but if you are not corrected, do not expect mercy.

The holy Apostle directs this threat not against the Galatians who were seduced, but against the seducers. The latter knew the truth, while the former in simplicity of heart accepted their crooked interpretation as truth, not suspecting falsehood. They were guilty only in not turning to Saint Paul, who had twice been among them, their teacher and father, who had begotten them into spiritual life in Christ.

Yet even this could have happened through inexperience, without any lessening of their love for truth. Saint Paul does not direct his threat toward them. At the same time he lets them understand that, if they remain stubborn in error, then they too will bear the same punishment with the false teachers.

Until now they were innocent. But after so full an explanation of the truth as Saint Paul gave them, they will no longer be guiltless. They will stand in one class with their new teachers.

Our interpreters, however, dwell chiefly on the direct sense of these words, without applying the inference to the Galatians themselves. Thus Saint Chrysostom says: "Saint Paul urges them to rise from two sides, both by hope concerning them and by threat, or by the foretelling of punishment for the disturbers. But note that he did not name any of the plotters, lest he make them still more shameless. The sense of his words is this: although you will not think otherwise, nevertheless this will not free the authors of deception from punishment. They will be condemned. For it is impossible that the lot of wicked men should be lightened by the piety of others. He says this so that the false teachers may not make the same attack on others as well. He did not simply say, 'he who troubles,' but strengthened the expression by adding, 'whoever he may be.'"

This last addition suggests that among the false teachers there may have been persons of weight. He makes it understood that neither wealth, nor noble rank, nor any other visible distinction will free them from deserved punishment. So he said at the beginning: even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach otherwise, he will not escape punishment.

In what did the threat consist? "He shall bear his judgment," in Greek, κριμα, judgment. To bear judgment means not only to be condemned, but also to bear the punishment assigned for it. "He shall bear judgment" is the same as what is said elsewhere: "Each one shall bear his own burden" (blessed Jerome).

What, then, is this burden, or what is the substance of the punishment? Perhaps he threatens punishment from God, as though saying: God will not leave him unpunished. Such a threat had already been spoken by the Savior. In His Kingdom, as the one who converts another will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins (cf. Jas 5:20), so conversely, woe to the one through whom scandal comes.

"Whoever troubles and scandalizes anyone in the Church would be better off with a millstone hung around his neck and cast into the sea, than to scandalize one of those little ones to whom the Savior points" (cf. Lk 17:1-2), says blessed Jerome.

But perhaps Saint Paul also hinted at such a judgment as he soon used in Corinth, that is, ecclesiastical judgment: excommunication and delivery to anathema, as he had already pronounced at the beginning of the Epistle. One hears, as it were: I shall come and deal with them.