Paul remembers how well the Galatians started, and he wants them to see that something has interrupted them. He pictures them as runners. Barnes says "The Christian life is often represented as a race," and Gill agrees that "The metaphor is taken from runners in a race." The question "who did hinder you" is not a request for a name. It makes the Galatians look at the influence that broke their stride. Gill says the hinderers were the false apostles, "who did all they could to remove them to another Gospel." Paul's next words show where this pressure did not come from: "This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you" (Galatians 5:8).

Paul gives no name, but he answers the question by exposing the source. "This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you" (Galatians 5:8). He warns that "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (Galatians 5:9). He expresses confidence that the Galatians "will be none otherwise minded," and says that "he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be" (Galatians 5:10).

"Ye did run well" uses the imperfect tense in Greek (etrechete, "you were running"), describing a race that had been going on. The verb for "hinder" differs between Greek texts. The Textus Receptus has anekopse, and Barnes says the word "means, properly, to beat or drive back." Other Greek editions read enekopsen, "cut into." Either way the picture is of a runner blocked in the course. "Obey the truth" translates peithesthai, a verb that can mean "to be persuaded" or "to obey." Paul had used the same phrase earlier: "who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth?" (Galatians 3:1).

The gospel is a truth to be obeyed, not only an idea to be admired. The Galatians had received it gladly and were running, but a different message had cut in. Paul's question shows that the Galatians drifted through a voice that sounded persuasive ("This persuasion," Galatians 5:8), not through open rebellion. That is why he immediately tests the persuasion by its source: does it come "of him that calleth you" (Galatians 5:8)?

Matthew Henry draws the lesson that "The life of a Christian is a race, wherein he must run, and hold on, if he would obtain the prize." He also notes that many who set out well are "hindered in their progress, or turned out of the way." Paul does not give up on them. He is confident they will hold to the truth (Galatians 5:10).