Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; you are fallen from grace.
All Commentaries on Galatians 5:4 Go To Galatians 5
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Christ is become of no effect unto you. You are outside the redemption wrought by Christ, deprived of His merits, and void of His grace.
Whosoever of you are justified by the law. Who seek for righteousness from circumcision and other legal rites. By distrusting the grace of Christ and preferring the law, you have treated Christ with ingratitude, and in consequence He has withdrawn His grace from you. The Galatians , says S. Paul, were once filled with the grace of Christ, like a well with water; but they have now emptied it all out, and so lost the fruits of His Passion. Or, to put it in another way, Christ has emptied His Church of them, because of their want of faith. [Note.—The Vulgate rendering here is evacuati estis.]
Vatablus [as A.V.] interprets the term to mean that Christ had become of no effect, His labour had been thrown away, His Passion made fruitless by the withdrawal of His grace. The very name of Christian was no longer due to them, and should be dropped; or if they wished to retain it, they must say farewell to the law. Cf. a similar expression in Romans 7:6.
