King James Bible
"Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?"
Paul uses athletic imagery common in his letters, praising the Galatians' past spiritual progress as runners in a race. This acknowledgment of their former faithfulness sets up a stark contrast with their current state, implying they have somehow gone off course. The verb suggests someone literally cut in front of them on the track, disrupting their race—Paul's rhetorical question points to the Judaizers who infiltrated the church. This interruption metaphor emphasizes that their spiritual setback came from external interference rather than internal failure. The truth here refers to the gospel of justification by faith alone, which the Galatians are now abandoning for law-based righteousness. Paul frames their turn toward circumcision and law-keeping as disobedience to the gospel message they had originally embraced.