Teks -- Galatians 5:15 (NET)

5:15 However, if you continually bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Robertson: Gal 5:15 - If ye bite and devour one another

If ye bite and devour one another ( ei allēlous daknete kai katesthiete ).

Condition of first class assumed as true. Two common and old verbs often used together of wild animals, or like cats and dogs.

Robertson: Gal 5:15 - That ye be not consumed one of another

That ye be not consumed one of another ( mē hup' allēlōn analōthēte ).

Negative final clause with first aorist passive subjunctive of analiskō , old word to consume or spend. In N.T. only here and Luk 9:54. There is a famous story of two snakes that grabbed each other by the tail and each swallowed the other.

Vincent: Gal 5:15 - Bite and devour

Bite and devour ( δάκνετε καὶ κατεσθίετε )

Strong expressions of partisan hatred exerting itself for mutual injury. Δάκνειν to bite , N.T.o . In lxx metaphorically, Mic 3:5; Hab 2:7. For κατεσθίειν devour , comp. Mat 23:13; 2Co 11:20; Rev 11:5.

Vincent: Gal 5:15 - Be consumed

Be consumed ( ἀναλωθῆτε )

Rare in N.T. See Luk 9:54. Partisan strife will be fatal to the Christian community as a whole. The organic life of the body will be destroyed by its own members.

Wesley: Gal 5:15 - But if

On the contrary, in consequence of the divisions which those troublers have occasioned among you, ye bite one another by evil speaking.

Wesley: Gal 5:15 - And devour one another

By railing and clamour.

Wesley: Gal 5:15 - Take heed ye be not consumed one of another

By bitterness, strife, and contention, our health and strength, both of body and soul, are consumed, as well as our substance and reputation.

JFB: Gal 5:15 - bite

Backbite the character.

JFB: Gal 5:15 - devour

The substance by injuring, extortion, &c. (Hab 1:13; Mat 23:14; 2Co 11:20).

JFB: Gal 5:15 - consumed, &c.

Strength of soul, health of body, character, and resources, are all consumed by broils [BENGEL].

Clarke: Gal 5:15 - If ye bite and devour one another

If ye bite and devour one another - These Churches seem to have been in a state of great distraction; there were continual altercations among them. They had fallen from the grace of the Gospel; and, as Christ no longer dwelt in their hearts by faith, pride, anger, ill-will, and all unkind and uncharitable tempers, took possession of their souls, and they were in consequence alternately destroying each other. Nothing is so destructive to the peace of man, and to the peace of the soul, as religious disputes; where they prevail, religion in general has little place.

Calvin: Gal 5:15 - But if ye bite and devour one another

15.But if ye bite and devour one another. From the nature of the subject, as well as from the language employed, we may conjecture that the Galatians had disputes among themselves; for they differed about doctrine. The apostle now demonstrates, from the result, how destructive such proceedings in the church must ultimately prove to be. False doctrine was probably a judgment from heaven upon their ambition, pride, and other offenses. This may be concluded from what frequently happens in the divine dispensations, as well as from an express declaration by the hand of Moses.

“Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.” (Deu 13:3.)

By biting and devouring ⁸⁹ he means, I think, slanders, accusations, reproaches, and every other kind of offensive language, as well as acts of injustice arising either from fraud or violence. And what is the end of them? To be consumed, while the tendency of brotherly love is to produce mutual protection and kindness. I wish we could always remember, when the devil tempts us to disputes, that the disagreement of members within the church can lead to nothing else than the ruin and consumption of the whole body. How distressing, how mad is it, that we, who are members of the same body, should be leagued together, of our own accord, for mutual destruction!

TSK: Gal 5:15

Gal 5:26; 2Sa 2:26, 2Sa 2:27; Isa 9:20,Isa 9:21, Isa 11:5-9, Isa 11:13; 1Co 3:3, 1Co 6:6-8; 2Co 11:20; 2Co 12:20; Jam 3:14-18, Jam 4:1-3

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Gal 5:15

This lets us know, that there were great contentions and divisions amongst the members of this church, whether (which is probable) occasioned by their differences in and about the doctrine of justification, or upon other accounts, we are not told; but upon whatever account they were raised, they were contrary to that serving one another in love, to which the apostle had exhorted them. Nor did they terminate in a mere dislike of and displacency to each other, but broke out into overt acts, more becoming dogs than Christians, and therefore it is expressed under the notion of biting and devouring. The issue of which, the apostle prophesieth would be a consuming one another; they being actions that had a natural tendency to this end.

Gill: Gal 5:15 - But if ye bite and devour one another // take heed that ye be not consumed one of another

But if ye bite and devour one another,.... Another reason inducing to love is taken from the pernicious consequences of a contrary spirit and conduct. The allusion is to beasts of prey falling upon and devouring one another: for wolves or dogs to worry sheep is not strange; but for sheep to distress one another is unnatural. The apostle does not say, if grievous wolves should enter in among you and not spare the flock; but suggests if they themselves should act the part of wolves to one another; having reference to their controversies about the law and circumcision, and the necessity thereof to justification and salvation; which were managed with great heat and bitterness, occasioned great contentions, and threatened them with divisions, parties, and factions; and were attended with envy and malice, with reproachful words, biting sarcasms, scandalous invectives, and injurious actions, which must be of bad consequence: hence he adds,

take heed that ye be not consumed one of another; that is, either beware lest each other's particular peace and comfort be destroyed, which is oftentimes done this way, though a person's state and condition God-ward may be safe; or lest their church state should be destroyed and come to nothing, since love is the cement of it, which being loosened, threatens a dissolution; for as no civil community, either public or private, divided against itself, can stand long, so no religious one; and for want of love the Lord threatens to remove, and sometimes does remove, the candlestick out of its place.