You were doing so well! is literally “you were running well.” The figure of running a race is one of Paul’s favorites when talking of moral efforts. Most translations keep the metaphor, but Good News Translation drops it in favor of a simple statement of its meaning (also Phillips “you were making splendid progress”). It may be useful in this particular context to indicate that the progress the believers were making was in their relationship to Christ, for example, “You were progressing so well in your relationship to Christ,” or “… in the way in which you trusted Christ.”

The verb translated made you stop has the primary meaning of “to hinder” (Revised Standard Version). It is tempting to continue the metaphor of the race track and to interpret the verb as “put you off the course” (Phillips) or “diverted you from the path of truth” (New American Bible). But perhaps it is better to assume that Paul is mixing metaphors, since the verb here is used in military operations and signifies breaking up a road to render it impassable.

The tense of the verb (aorist) indicates that the work of the false teachers has already been done and that in some way the Galatians have stopped obeying the truth. Truth here is the message which Paul had proclaimed to the Galatians. Who made you stop obeying the truth? may be rendered as “who caused you to stop obeying the true words?”, or even “… the true words about God?” In some languages it is simply impossible to speak of “truth” without indicating what is true. One may therefore have “true words,” “true words about God,” or “the true Good News.” This could be an indirect reference to the initial presentation of the gospel in chapter 1.6-9.

The question How did he persuade you? really belongs to verse 8; it is an expansion of a nominal form of the verb “to persuade.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .