THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE GALATIANS - Chapter 5 - Verse 15

Verse 15. But if ye bite. The word here used daknw means, properly, to bite, to sting; and here seems to be used in the sense of contending and striving—a metaphor not improbably taken from dogs and wild beasts.

And devour one another. As wild beasts do. The sense is, "if you contend with each other;" and the reference is, probably, to the strifes which would arise between the two parties in the churches—the Jewish and the Gentile converts.

Take heed that ye be not consumed, etc. As wild beasts contend sometimes until both are slain. Thus the idea is, in their contentions they would destroy the spirituality and happiness of each other; their characters would be ruined, and the church be overthrown. The readiest way to destroy the spirituality of a church, and to annihilate the influence of religion, is to excite a spirit of contention.