Commentary on Galatians 5:16-26

Text in red are my additions.

HE WORKS OF THE FLESH AND THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT

Summary of Galatians 5:16-26~The Apostle tells the Galatians that their disputes and contentions are signs that they are living according to the flesh. The flesh and its lower instincts are contrary to life by the spirit. If we walk by the latter, we shall not obey the former; neither shall we be under the Law. The opposition between the flesh and the spirit is manifest from the works of the one and the fruits of the other.

Gal 5:16. I say then, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.

See on Rom 8:4, 5. St. Paul now commences to explain what is meant by liberty, spoken of in verse 13.

The spirit. The reference here is perhaps not immediately to the Holy Ghost, but rather to the life of grace in man. “By the flesh he (the Apostle) means the inclination of the mind to the worse; by the spirit, the indwelling grace” (Theodoret).

Lusts is singular in Greek; it means the depraved inclinations of the lower nature.

The Spiritus of the Vulgate should be spiritus; and desideria should be desiderium, to agree with the Greek.

 Gal 5:17. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit : and the spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary one to another : so that you do not the things that you would.

This verse is not a summary of Rom 7:15 ff., as Protestant scholars contend. In Romans there is question of man’s natural faculties and powers prior to faith and Baptism; while here, faith is presupposed, and grace is active in the soul. Concupiscence is not extinguished by Baptism, and hence even in the life of grace the lower nature more or less constantly rises against the spiritual principle in man.

So that, etc. The Greek ἵνα (= hina) here is not easy to explain. It is taken by Cornely in a final sense, as if Paul wished to show that in each case the choice depends on one’s own will. Lagrange finds this explanation very good, except that it is almost diametrically contrary to the Greek text of the present verse. Therefore he prefers to give ἵνα  a consecutive meaning, since there is question of a result or consequence. Hence the sense would be: Man does not do what, according to simple velleity, he would like to do. If he follows the spirit, he has only velleity of the flesh; contrariwise, if he obeys the flesh, he has only an inefficacious wish to follow the spirit. In either case man does not yield to his inclinations in their entirety. 

Gal 5:18. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.

If the Christian is guided by the principle of his higher life, by grace, which is superadded to his rational nature, he is no longer under the Law, but is an adopted son of God.

If you are led, etc., i.e., if you live according to the life of grace which you have received in Baptism, you are nowise under the terrors, the threats, and the penalties of the Law. Here, as in the preceding verse, spirit means grace rather than the Holy Ghost.

 Gal 5:19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury,

Now δέ (= de) is explicative, not adversative. It is not difficult to determine whether we are living according to the spirit or according to the flesh; for the works of the latter (Gal 5:19-21), as well as the fruits of the former (Gal 5:22-23), are manifest, and this without the aid of the Law to make us aware of them.

Fornication, i.e., unlawful carnal intercourse with non-spouses, especially with prostitutes.

Uncleanness, i.e., general moral impurity, embracing sins against nature.

Immodesty, i.e., open shamelessness, or shameless sensuality.

Luxury (Vulg., luxuria) is not in the Greek.

Gal 5:20. Idolatry, witchcraft, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects,

Errors in religion are mentioned first.

Idolatry, i.e., the heathen worship of the images of the gods. The Christians were often exposed to the danger of participating in this sin which was one of the most important functions in the celebration of municipal and imperial feasts.

Witchcraft φαρμακεία (= pharmakeia), i.e., magic and sorcery, which, although prohibited by the official religious and civil law, were very much practiced among the people in private.

Sins against charity are now enumerated.

Enmities ἔχθρα (= echthra). The plural occurs only here in the New Testament.

Quarrels, i.e., parties ἐριθεία (= eritheia), contending for place and power.
 
Gal 5:21. Envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God.

The enumeration of the vices of the flesh is here terminated with two sins against temperance (cf. Rom 13:13).

Of the which I foretell, etc., i.e., of which I warn you, before the judgment of God comes upon you. St. Paul is referring to his personal instructions to the Galatians, as well as to his present warning.
 
Gal 5:22. But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity,
Gal 5:23. Mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity. Against such there is no law.

To the works of the flesh St. Paul now opposes the fruits of the spirit. He calls them by the singular fruit to show that all supernatural virtues are united in the one Christian virtue of charity. The Clementine Vulgate enumerates twelve fruits of the spirit, while in the Greek there are only nine.

Patience, modesty and chastity are omitted from the Greek list because they are double renderings of μακροθυμία, πρᾳότης, ἐγκράτεια   respectively. The Latin enumeration in conformity with the Greek would be as follows: caritas, gaudium, pax, longanimitas, benignitas, bonitas, fides, mansuetudo, continentia. St. Jerome has the same enumeration, but with a different order.

Charity is the first fruit of the Holy Ghost, and consequently also of a soul in the state of grace.

Peace with God, with one’s own conscience, and with one’s neighbor. Charity, joy and peace are more interior to the soul, and nourish those exterior virtues which have to do with the neighbor and the external world.

Faith here does not mean the theological virtue, but rather fidelity, or confidence towards others.

Continency is the virtue opposed to the vices of voluptuousness and intemperance.

Against such, etc., i.e., those who practice the above virtues are not under the Mosaic or any other law.

Gal 5:24. And they that are Christ’s, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences.

They that are Christ’s, etc. Literally, “They that are of Christ Jesus,” i.e., those who have received Baptism have, by their moral and mystical union with the crucified Saviour, placed their flesh, i.e., their inordinate tendencies, passions and vices, as it were, in a state of death, whereby they are enabled to inaugurate the life of the spirit. It is sin that is dead; the flesh, i.e., concupiscence, which remains after sin, continues to war against the spirit (verse 17). Cf. Rom 6:2 ff.

Vices πάθημα (= pathēma), i.e., the passions, as sources of evil desires.

Gal 5:25. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

A practical conclusion is now drawn. It is not enough to have received the principle of a holy life; we must live a holy life. Our lives must be regulated and directed not by the Law, but by the spirit.

Gal 5:26. Let us not be made desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another. 

This verse is regarded by some as a last word of counsel relative to life by the spirit; by others, as an introduction to what follows. Those who live by the spirit will be led to right conduct in their relations towards others.

The thought here goes back to that of verse 15. There, however, the feeling is stronger.

Let us, etc. The Apostle includes himself in their temptation, doubtless out of humility and in order to conciliate his readers.

Provoking, etc., i.e., challenging one another.

Envying, etc., i.e., rivaling one another.