Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
Have ye suffered so many things--namely, persecution from Jews and from unbelieving fellow countrymen, incited by the Jews, at the time of your conversion.
in vain--fruitlessly, needlessly, since ye might have avoided them by professing Judaism [GROTIUS]. Or, shall ye, by falling from grace, lose the reward promised for all your sufferings, so that they shall be "in vain" (Galatians 4:11; 1 Corinthians 15:2, 1 Corinthians 15:17-19, 1 Corinthians 15:29-32; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-7; 2 John 1:8)?
yet--rather, "If it be really (or 'indeed') in vain" [ELLICOTT]. "If, as it must be, what I have said, 'in vain,' is really the fact" [ALFORD]. I prefer understanding it as a mitigation of the preceding words. I hope better things of you, for I trust you will return from legalism to grace; if so, as I confidently expect, you will not have "suffered so many things in vain" [ESTIUS]. For "God has given you the Spirit and has wrought mighty works among you" (Galatians 3:5; Hebrews 10:32-36) [BENGEL].
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