Deeper Commentary
CHAPTER 5
5:1- see on Gal. 5:11.
For freedom did Christ set us free- Romans 6 compares baptism to a change of masters.
The point has been made that this is a reference to manumission, whereby a
'redeemer' gave a 'ransom' to a god, which meant that a slave was freed
from his master and became a free man, although he was counted as a slave
to the god to whom the redeemer had paid the ransom. Indeed, lutron,
one of the words translated "ransom" with regard to the blood of Christ,
has this specific meaning. Deissmann comments: "When anybody heard the
Greek word lutron, "ransom", in the first century, it was natural
for him to think of the purchase money for manumitting slaves". This means
that when we come to understand the atonement, we understand that the
price has been paid to free us from slavery into the service of God. We
are in the position of a slave who suddenly discovers some gracious
benefactor has made the longed for payment of ransom. And so he goes free,
but is willingly and eagerly in slavery to the god to whom his redeemer
had paid the price. In our case this is none other than the One, Almighty
God of Israel. And the ransom is the precious blood of Christ, which
thereby compels our willing slavery to the new Master. There are other
references to manumission in Gal. 5:1,13 RV: "For freedom did Christ set
us free… ye have been called unto freedom" and in the references to our
being bought with a price, i.e. the blood of Jesus (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23).
And this is the horror of 2 Pet. 2:1- "denying even the Master that bought
them [out]". To turn against their gracious redeemer was the ultimate sick
act for a slave freed through manumission. And this is the horror of
turning away from the Lord. The death of Christ for us is thereby a
warning to us of the end of sin and therefore the need to change.
The world, Paul told the Romans, seeks to push us into its mould (Rom.
12:2 J.B. Phillips). And this is increasingly true, as people crowded
together catch the same bus each day to arrive at roughly the same time,
reading the same newspapers, watching the same soap operas… automatic
lives. Yet the real self created in the believer is ultimately free.
For freedom did Christ set us free. The new person, the essential you and
me, is characterized by sudden, creative welling up to the Father’s glory.
This doesn’t mean that we have no habits- regular prayer, Bible study,
meeting together etc. are all part of the new person. This is why the
elderly, the infirm, the chronically shy, experience the flowering of the
person, the sense of new life even in the face of the outward man
perishing daily; because their inward man, their real self, is being so
strongly infused with power (2 Cor. 4:16). This explains why the graph of
spiritual growth in any person is not a smooth upward curve; it is a very
jagged line. Our true person asserts itself in those moments of totally
free choice to serve our Lord. But we so easily allow our lives to slip
back into the automatisms which define our internet personas.
The spirit of life in Christ sets us free from sin (Rom. 8:2); but Gal.
5:1 simply says that “Christ” has set us free [the same Greek phrase] from
sin. The Man Christ Jesus is His “spirit of life”; the man and His way of
life were in perfect congruence. They always were; for in Him the word was
made flesh. There was ‘truth’ in His very person, in that the principles
of the God of Truth were perfectly and totally lived out in His person and
being. Back in 1964, Emil Brunner wrote a book, whose title speaks for
itself: Truth As Encounter. Truth is essentially a person- the Lord
Jesus. Truth is an experience, a way of life, a total assurance of
forgiveness and salvation, a validation of the new man created within us,
in a way so deep, and so strongly felt, that all else appears as falsehood
compared to that surpassing ‘truth’.
Therefore, stand fast, and do not get entangled again in a yoke of bondage- "Again" would suggest
to me that the audience was largely Jewish; but see the discussion at 4:8.
The allusion is to the "yoke" of life in Christ; Paul seems to be saying
that we cannot wear two yokes. We cannot be saved by faith alone, and also
by legal obedience.
5:2
Behold, I Paul say to you: If you receive
circumcision- There is strong reason
to think that Paul was writing to a Jewish readership; see on 4:8. So we
may need to read in an ellipsis here: 'If you receive the idea that
circumcision is required for salvation'. He certainly was not saying that
'circumcision' were not profited by Christ; he means that some attitude to
circumcision would lead to not being profited by Christ. But it is equally
credible that even Gentile converts to the free salvation in Christ would
be tempted to accept Judaism and a mass of regulations. Because this puts
salvation under question, and means that the response required of us is so
much less. Whereas if we are saved by grace through faith, regardless of
our obedience or disobedience ratio, then this is so wonderful that it
requires our total response. Every part of our thinking and living becomes
subservient to this driving passion of gratitude and joy.
Christ will profit you nothing- The argument of Galatians is also found in Romans, here at Rom. 2:25:
"For circumcision indeed profits, if you be a doer ['keeper'] of the
[whole] law". Here in Gal. 5:3, Paul likewise goes on to reason that
relying on circumcision [obedience to one Mosaic law] requires obedience
to the entire law. This is the danger of focusing on obedience to just one
law; if we think obedience on one point is so critical for salvation, then
we require ourselves to in fact keep the entire legal package. And that is
the case to this day; salvation is offered either to those who keep the
entire law of Moses, or to those who fall in faith upon Christ, believing
we are in Him and saved by identification with Him alone. And yet it is a
common tendency amongst believers to focus upon one particular act of
obedience to commandment and turn this into a shibboleth issue. Be it
women wearing head coverings or divorce and remarriage, the same mentality
can be evidenced as regarding circumcision in the first century.
5:3 Yes,
I testify again to every man that receives circumcision, that he is a
debtor to do the whole law- God uses language differently to
how we do because He can read motives. Paul and many other Jewish
Christians were circumcised, but Paul is reasoning in the letter to the
Galatians that the true Jewish believer was not under an obligation to
keep the Law: “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything,
nor uncircumcision” (Gal. 5:6). Therefore “every man that is circumcised”
in Galatians 5:3 must mean ‘every man who trusts in circumcision or wants
to undergo it’. Some modern paraphrases support this, but the point is
that what God actually said was that “every man that is circumcised… is a
debtor to do the whole law” (see Greek text). Those words are just not
true if taken out of context; we need to appreciate that God is speaking
from the perspective of knowing men’s motives. Paul doesn't mean that
every circumcised man is a debtor to keep all the Law. He means that every
man who is circumcised in order to be saved is a debtor to keep all
the law.
5:4- see on Gal. 6:14.
You are severed from Christ
if you would be justified by the law! You are fallen away from grace- Some texts read
"Christ is become of no effect". Whichever reading is correct, the
implications of attempting salvation by obedience are pretty severe.
Christ's death was to no purpose, He died in vain; or, in allusion to the
Lord's parable of the vine in Jn. 15, we are severed from Christ because
we have severed ourselves. This would come about by no longer believing
that being "in Him" was important for salvation.
5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the
hope of righteousness- The contrast is between the way of the Spirit
by faith, and keeping the law- in order to attain "the hope of
righteousness", a term allusive to a term used in Rabbinic Judaism for the
reward of the obedient. Paul has explained that the Spirit is sent forth
into the hearts of those who simply and totally believe the promise to
Abraham of blessing and salvation (3:2; 4:6); indeed, the gift of the
Spirit is itself one aspect of the blessing promised, it is the foretaste
and guarantee of the future inheritance of the earth which has been
promised (Eph. 1:14). "We ourselves" may be a reference to Paul and those
with him. For the Galatians had stopped trusting in that gift of the
Spirit, they had left off faith in God's grace and replaced it with
attempts to attain "the hope" by their own works. This is why the
Galatians were now not behaving well; their attempt to achieve salvation
by works actually made them sin more. Hence Paul now goes on to talk about
practical issues and the need to overcome sin by life in the Spirit rather
than steel willed obedience. This more practical section of the letter is
not at all divorced from the earlier argument about the crucial need to
trust in the word of promise and be transformed by the Spirit- rather than
seeking justification by works of obedience.
5:6 For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means
anything, but faith working through love- Paul has argued in 3:27-29
that for those "in Christ" by baptism, gender, social status etc. mean
nothing- because they have taken on His identity. The choice is between
being completely obedient to the Mosaic Law- or faith in Christ. That
faith operates through love. Love is the primary fruit of the Spirit
(:22). If we go the path of faith in Christ alone [and there is no other
option, because we have all failed to be totally obedient to the law]-
then the Spirit operates in our hearts (3:2; 4:6). And the overall work of
the Spirit is the fruit of love, in all its dimensions (:22). And so a
path is set up: Faith- Receipt of the Spirit- Love. In this sense, faith
operates through love.
Reading the Greek another way, “Faith is wrought by love” (Gal. 5:6 RVmg.)
in that the fruits of the Spirit reinforce each other in an upward spiral.
Faith leads to humility, and vice versa. Realizing we of ourselves are
insufficient results in humility, which in turn develops faith. Hence
Prov. 20:6 comments that a man of faith will not "proclaim his own
goodness".
5:7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?-
This suggests that obeying the Truth is not just in baptism; it is an
ongoing motivation to keep running the race of practical life in Christ.
See on 1 Pet. 1:22. "The truth" is used here for faith in the simplest,
most fundamental truth- that the promised Kingdom of God really will be
ours if we believe in Christ. All schemes of salvation by works are a form
of not obeying the Truth.
5:8 This persuasion came not from him that calls you- The idea of
having been called both by and to grace is quite a big theme with
Paul (Gal. 1:6,15; 5:13). They had not been called to this legalism.
5:9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump- The problem in Galatia
had been caused by a very small group ("the one who is troubling you",
:10) or an apparently insignificant doctrine. But it was destroying the
while community; although this was because the idea of salvation by works
was so attractive. The Lord had spoken of the teaching of the Pharisees as
"leaven" (Mk. 8:15). In the more immediate context, Paul may mean that
once you demand legal obedience to one law, in this case circumcision,
then this leads to a need for obedience to the entire Law. The idea being
that small beginning has huge consequences.
5:10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view
than mine- Paul is both despairing and confident about them within a
chapter or so. We get the impression that he had over invested in them
personally and was taking it all too personally. Hence he speaks here of
them taking "no other view than mine", which sounds rather as if he has
personalized the whole thing in a wrong way.
We can however read Paul's confidence as an imputing of righteousness to
the Galatians, and recognizing their status in Christ. Recognizing others
as being “in Christ” imparts an altogether higher quality to our
relationships. The cynicism and negativity which we naturally bring to
many inter-personal encounters is taken away by a deep recognition that
our brethren are indeed in the Lord. Having noted that the Galatians did
not any longer “believe the truth”, Paul can say that he has “confidence
to you-ward in the Lord” (Gal. 5:10 RV). Because they were “in the Lord”,
he could hope against all human indications, that they would indeed rise
up to an imitation of the Lord in whom Paul believed them to be. And so we
have to ask ourselves, whether we indeed have that “confidence” about
others, because we know them to be “in the Lord”? Or do we judge them
after the flesh…?
And the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is-
This would imply that
the whole Judaistic campaign in Galatia was led by one person, the little
/ small leaven which was influencing the whole lump. "Whoever he is"
connects with the spirit of 2:6: "But from those who were reputed to be
somewhat (whatever they were, it makes no matter to me, God does not
accept man's person) they, I say, who were of repute added nothing to me".
We could assume that the individual was of some respect within the
churches of Galatia.
5:11- see on 1 Cor. 1:23; 9:17.
But I brothers, if I still preach circumcision- The more you read between the lines of Paul's
letters, the more evident it is that his very own brethren almost
unbelievably slandered him. Thus the Galatians whispered that Paul still
preached circumcision (Gal. 5:11), probably basing that nasty rumour on
the fact he had circumcised Timothy. See on 1 Tim. 5:19.
Why am I still persecuted?-
Paul's persecution of Christians was done to him. This was not just Divine
poetic justice for the sake of it; it was practically to enable him to
understand those brethren whom he had killed and tortured, in order to
prepare him for eternal fellowship with them in God's Kingdom.
Then has the stumbling-block of the cross been done away- The cross is described as a skandalon, an
offence (Gal. 5:11). Either we stumble (are offended) on it, or we stumble
and are offended in the sense of spiritually falling away. Either we share
the Lord’s cross, shedding our blood with His “outside the gate” of this
world; or we will share the condemnation of those whose blood is to be
shed in destruction outside the city (Rev. 14:20). It’s Golgotha now, or
later. The cross makes men stumble; either falling on that stone and being
broken into humility, or the uncommitted stumbling at the huge demand
which the cross implies. Paul had all this in mind when he wrote of the
lust / affections of the flesh (Gal. 5:24), using a word elsewhere
translated "sufferings" in the context of Christ's cross. The sufferings,
the lust, the cross of the flesh... or the cross of the Lord Jesus.
5:12
I would that they that unsettle
you- A mild translation;
the same word is used of how Paul had turned the Jewish world upside down
by his preaching (Acts 17:6). We catch a sense here of how destabilizing
all these arguments were; people had had their lives and world turned
upside down by the Gospel, and were not having their new world turned
upside down again by false teachers.
Would even go beyond circumcision and emasculate themselves- This contains a play on words which may seem quite
inappropriate to us; so much so that many a Bible translator and expositor
has had problems with it. The idea is that Paul wishes that the
circumcision party would go further and fully emasculate themselves. This
just isn’t the way men would use language if they wrote the Bible
uninspired by God. See on Lk. 17:37.
5:13- see on Jn. 8:32.
For you, brothers, were called for freedom- This goes back to the allegory of the two sons. We
are children of the free woman. But whilst all men pay lip service to a
love of freedom, very few really want it once presented with it. To
believe we really are saved and shall be saved by grace when the Lord
returns... and that great salvation is independent of our sins and
obedience... this is the ultimate freedom, and we shall be granted that
freedom in a more material sense when our natures are changed and we enter
God's Kingdom at the Lord's return. The way the Galatians turned away from
freedom is so instructive as to the real nature of human thought and
essential preference.
Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh- No Greek word
represents "use"; the idea is that the freedom to law which we are called
to is not an opportunity for fleshly behaviour, but rather that freedom
paradoxically ends up in service to others, because the work of the Spirit
produces love as its summary fruit (5:22).
But through love serve one another- The Spirit produces love (:22), and that love is itself a motivating
and activating power. Hence the GNB: "Let love make you serve one
another".
5:14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: You shall
love your neighbour as yourself- Mt. 5:17 = Gal. 5:14. Christ
fulfilled the Law by His supreme love of His neighbour (us) as Himself, by
dying on the cross. That was where and how the Law was fulfilled. Paul is
arguing that if we are in Christ, then all that is true of Him is true of
us. So there is no need to try to keep the Mosaic Law. The Lord Jesus
Himself doesn't keep it- because He fulfilled it. Paul's argument has been
that those who believe in salvation by grace are given the Spirit, which
has the supreme fruit of love (:22), which in practice makes us serve one
another (:13). And by doing so, we fulfil the essence of the Law.
To love one’s neighbour as oneself is to fulfil the law (Gal. 5:14; Rom.
13:10); and yet the Lord’s death was the supreme fulfilment of it (Mt.
5:18; Col. 2:14). Here was the definition of love for one’s neighbour. Not
a passing politeness and occasional seasonal gift, whilst secretly and
essentially living the life of self-love and self-care; but the love and
the death of the cross, for His neighbours as for Himself. In Him, in His
time of dying, we see the definition of love, the fulfilment of the
justice and unassuming kindness and thought for others which was taught in
the Mosaic Law. And we through bearing one another’s burdens, through
bearing with their moral and intellectual and spiritual failures, must
likewise fulfil the law, in a voluntary laying down of our lives for each
other (Gal. 6:2). And in this, as with the Lord, will be our personal
salvation.
The Old Covenant's command to love one's neighbour as oneself was in the
context of life in Israel. One's "neighbour" referred to others belonging
to the Covenant people; not to those in the 'world' of the surrounding
nations. New Testament quotation of this command totally supports this
view; under the New Covenant, we must love those within the ecclesia
as we love ourselves (Gal. 5:14). 1 Cor. 6:1 (R.V.) speaks of brethren
within the ecclesia as "neighbours”. Again, this is not in itself proof
that we should not give to (e.g.). famine relief. But it surely indicates
that we are misguided in thinking that such action is fulfilling this
command. However, there is copious evidence within the Law that Israel
were to be considerate and concerned for the Gentile world around them.
But there is no Biblical evidence that Israel preached a social Gospel to
them.
5:15 But if you bite and devour one another- Since the Galatians
left trusting in Christ for salvation and turned to their own works, they
began biting and devouring each other. And so it is in legalistic, works
based communities. Arguments arise about technicalities and the exact
nature of obedience or disobedience; and because salvation is seen to
depend upon these issues, the divisions are indeed bitter and passionate.
Take care that you are not consumed by one another- The unbelieving world will finally destroy
themselves, brother against brother (Zech. 14:13). If we bite and devour
each other, we may be consumed by each other (Gal. 5:15)- this is the same
idea of brethren killing brethren, and the world killing itself. Israel
were condemned to destruction by brother being dashed against brother
(Jer. 13:14). Indeed, biting and devouring each other is a quotation from
Is. 9:19,20 LXX (although not apparent in the AV), where Israel in their
judgment for unfaithfulness would bite and devour each others' bodies in
the siege. Paul is saying that if we bite and devour each other with our
words (and we are all guilty of this at times), we are acting as the
condemned. If we do this, we may well be consumed of each other- and this
may have a terribly literal fulfilment, in that as the world
destroys every man his neighbour in the confusion of the last day, so the
rejected may do the same, living out the bigotry and passive anger they
felt towards each other in their ecclesial life. This all needs some
meditation. For there are very few of us not caught up in some division,
personality clash, biting or devouring.
5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh-
Having quit trusting in grace for salvation, the Galatians found that
their flesh lusted against the spirit to the extent that they just
couldn’t do the things they knew they should and which obedience they now
so desperately desired- because they were not led of the spirit, they were
still under law (Gal. 5:18). They didn’t have a spiritual way of life,
instead they were just trying to keep certain specific commandments, and
they found they just couldn’t live a victorious spiritual life.
How to not sin is perhaps one of our most fundamental questions. The
answer the legalists gave was: 'By obedience'. But that throws the
question only a stage further back. How? Paul has said that if we really
believe we will be saved, then we will be; and the promised inheritance is
by grace and not obedience to a set of laws. Those who believe this will
give their whole lives in joy and response to that great salvation; they
have no set of laws to follow, but the Spirit of Christ will be put into
their hearts which leads them to "love", which outworks in lives of
service to others. Thus they will lead lives 'walking by the Spirit',
living life in that sphere of being and thinking; this is the way to not
fulfil the lusts of the flesh. Those who try to battle each temptation in
their own strength will find themselves torn by the conflicting desires
and passions which destroy so many religious people and make them nothing
less than neurotic. Joy and peace as promised by the Lord will just not be
realized by them. The Galatians are really a parade example; they
switched over to trying to defeat each lust and passion as it arose,
without the help of the Spirit and without the assurance of being secured
in Christ by grace. And they started to fail, miserably. The misery of
their position is well described in :17.
5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh. For these are contrary to each other. You may not do the things you
would like to!- See on :16. I read this not so much as a global truth,
true of all men; but more as a description of the Galatians' miserable,
neurotic position. Hence talks here about "you" rather than "we"; whereas
elsewhere in this letter he at times uses "we" in associating himself with
a situation. They were unable to overcome the flesh because they were
doing so in their own strength and had neglected the operation of the
Spirit, which was given commensurate to a person's total surrender to and
identification with Christ. The leading of the Spirit means that we are
not under law- it's not a question of struggling with white knuckles
against temptation; but rather of following the Spirit's leading. See on
:24 With the passions and the lusts-
5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law-
If we are not justified by obedience but by faith, then we have no law.
Sin per se is not now something to be avoided or dodged by a steel
will. But this doesn't mean we are free to act as we wish; the whole
wonder of being certain that we are going to be in the Kingdom, and are at
this moment acceptable with the Father and Son... this demands our all. We
cannot be passive to such faith and hope.
The Greek word behind "led" doesn't so much mean that the Spirit goes
ahead and we follow. The word is usually translated 'to be brought'. The
Spirit brings us through to salvation- if we allow it. The word is used so
often in Acts of Paul being 'brought' to various places; his ministry was
truly one led by the Spirit. There are many connections between Galatians
and Romans. Paul uses the word of how the grace of God leads us to
repentance (Rom. 2:4), and of how those led by the Spirit are the sons of
God (Rom. 8:14). This is the identical context to the argument here in
Galatians. We who are God's sons in that we have identified with His
begotten Son are given the Spirit in our hearts (Gal. 4:5). The gift of
God's Spirit makes us part of the family, we think and act as do the
Father and Son. The Lord Jesus was of our nature exactly so that He could
bring / lead [s.w.] many sons unto glory (Heb. 2:10). The Lord's humanity
was necessary so that we might be able to identify with Him. He as God's
Son enables us to also be "sons".
The same contrast between the Spirit and the Law/flesh is seen in Rom.
8:2–3: “The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what the Law (of Moses / sin) could not
do...”. The Law indirectly encouraged the “works of the flesh” listed in
Gal. 5:19–21, shown in practice by the Jews becoming more morally
degenerate than even the Canaanite nations, and calling forth Paul’s
expose of how renegade Israel were in Romans 1.
5:19 Now the
works of the flesh- The Galatian fixation with works actually
led them to do the works of the flesh. The greatest barrier against grace
is our own psychology of works; our belief that even what is good about
us, in our character and in our deeds, is a result of our own unaided
effort. Not for nothing does Paul contrast the works of the flesh with the
fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5:19,23). As William Barclay noted: “A work is
something which a man produces for himself; a fruit is something which is
produced by a power which he does not possess. Man cannot make a fruit”.
It’s because of this that works are so glorified in society; it’s why the
elderly and weak are somehow despised because they’re not ‘productive’ of
‘works’. Grace therefore cuts right across the way our rationalistic
society, whether Marxist or capitalist, worships productivity. Our
tendency to value, indeed to worship, human works leads to great
frustration with ourselves. Only by realizing the extent of grace can we
become free from this. So many struggle with accepting unfulfilment-
coping with loss, with the fact we didn’t make as good a job of something
as we wanted, be it raising our kids or the website we work on or the book
we write or the room we decorated… And as death approaches, this sense
becomes stronger and more urgent. Young people tend to think that it’s
only a matter of time before they sort it out and achieve. But that time
never comes. It’s only by surrendering to grace, abandoning the trust in
and glorying in our own works, that we can come to accept the uncompleted
and unfulfilled in our lives, and to smile at those things and know that
of course, I can never ‘do’ or achieve enough.
Are manifest, which are these- fornication, uncleanness, sensuality- The works of the flesh
are already manifest- although they will be manifested again at the day of
judgment (Lk. 8:17; 1 Cor. 3:13). The children of God and of the devil in
the ecclesia are already manifest, in a sense (1 Jn. 3:10). See on Gal.
6:4. However it could be that Paul is saying that these works of the flesh
were manifest, were now visible, amongst the Galatians since they had
focused upon legal obedience rather than total faith in Christ's
salvation. In chapter 3, he had argued that the Law entered in order to
emphasize sin and drive sinners to a desire for participation in the
promises to Abraham and the need for identification with the seed to whom
those promises were made.
5:20 Idolatry,
sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions,
parties-
Gal. 5:20,21 lists anger
and divisiveness along with adultery and witchcraft- as all being sins
which will exclude from the Kingdom. Indeed, the list in Gal. 5:19,20
seems to be in progressive order, as if one sin leads to another, and the
final folly is division between brethren. See on 1 Cor. 11:18. The focus
upon works raises issues of obedience, disobedience and thereby the need
for exact definition of Divine requirements. This all results in division
between believers, unlike a following of the way of the Spirit.
5:21 Envyings,
drunkenness, revellings and such like. Of which I forewarn you now, even
as I did
previously forewarn you-
This would imply that Paul's earlier teaching of the Galatians included
sober warnings about the list of moral issues contained here.
That they who practise such things shall not inherit
the kingdom of God-
The question was how to
inherit the Kingdom, and Paul has been reasoning that the Law offered no
inheritance; but the promises to Abraham did. And yet those who live in
sin shall not inherit the Kingdom. The implication seemed to be that the
Law and trusting in it actually leads to behaviour which will exclude from
the Kingdom. And this fits with Paul's earlier argument in Galatians 3,
that the Law was given in order to magnify sin and lead sincere people to
abandon it for faith in Christ as the seed of Abraham.
5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is
love-
It can be argued that
the fruit of the Spirit is love, and the subsequent eight characteristics
are the outworking of love. The Spirit is that given to believers upon
acceptance of Christ (4:5). See the comments on 5:6 regarding how faith in
Christ alone, rather than legal obedience, therefore works out through
love. The role of the Spirit in Christian life is utterly fundamental, and
it is a feature of legalistic groups that they place little emphasis on
the gift of the Spirit. Typically the position amounts to: 'The miraculous
gifts of the Spirit are not for today, therefore the Spirit plays no role,
and we must get on and be obedient to law'. These positions go hand in
hand- but according to Paul, they are close to a false Gospel; although it
is true that the external miraculous manifestations of the Spirit are not
seen in our age.
Joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness- The influence of
continually hearing God’s word should be that our words are
likewise truthful and trustworthy. The fact that the Bible as God’s word
is true has implications for our own truthfulness. Pistos is listed
as a fruit of the spirit in Gal. 5; but the idea it can carry is not so
much of faith in the sense of belief, but of faithfulness, loyalty,
reliability, utter dependability. If this is how God’s words are to us,
then this is how we and our words should be to others.
The description of love in 1 Cor. 13 are similar to the outline of the
fruits of the Spirit here. These are all portraits of the man Christ
Jesus. The clearest witness to Him “therefore consists in human life in
which his image is reproduced”. The connection with the total character of
the Lord Jesus is because the Spirit we have been given is His Spirit
(4:5), the power to become like Him.
5:23 Meekness, self-control.
Against such there is no law-
We are not under any law now (:18), telling us what to do; nor is there
any law telling us what not to do. We are to wholeheartedly respond to the
assurance of salvation. The way of living in and breathing in the Spirit
is wholly positive. Such a life naturally takes up all our psychological
energy so that there is no space left for temptation to have much power.
This without doubt is how the Lord 'managed' to be sinless.
5:24 And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh-
Who in their own strength could say they have done this? Only those who
have identified with Christ in baptism, so that with Paul they can say "I
have been crucified with Christ" (2:20). The same language is used about
our identity with Christ in baptism in Romans 6. This is only true by
status; and we are to really believe the status that we have "in Christ".
With the passions and the lusts of it- In the same way as Jesus
crucified the Law (Col. 2:14) by His death on the cross, so the early
church should crucify the Law and the passions it generated by its
specific denial of so many fleshly desires: “They that are Christ’s have
crucified the flesh with the affections (AV mg. “passions”) and lusts”.
This seems to connect with Rom. 7:5: “When we were in the flesh the
motions (same Greek word, ‘affections’ as in Gal. 5:24) of sins, which
were by the Law, did work in our members”. “When we were in the flesh”
seems to refer to ‘While we were under the Law’. For Paul implies he is no
longer ‘in the flesh’, which he was if ‘the flesh’ only refers to human
nature. The end of the law means that passions and lusts are ended with
it- if we have identified with Him who ended the law. This would be
further encouragement to read the description of the passionate struggle
between fleshly lusts and righteousness in :17 as speaking of how things
were with the Galatians, rather than how things have to be for all
believers.
5:25 If we live by the Spirit- The gift of the Spirit is not an
overpowering force which forces us to obedience. We must allow it to work;
clearly the Galatians had turned away from it, towards justification by
their own strength.
Let us also walk in step with the Spirit- An allusion to Ezekiel’s vision of the wheels of
the cherubim on earth being in step with the Angel-cherubim above them.
Our spirit bears witness with God’s Spirit- we know that our way of life
is in harmony with Him, our spirit is His, and thereby we know that we are
His children and united with the eternal life and now eternal spirit of
His Son (Rom. 8:16). The way of life we live in Christ is an eternal life,
an eternal spirit; in this sense we are living the eternal life, the life
we will eternally live. This is how crucially important it is to be living
the truth as a way of life. Go through your life and see how you can
construct this ambience within it.
5:26 Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one
another- It would seem that since seeking to be obedient to the Law as
a basis for salvation, the Galatians were experiencing much inter-personal
conflict- of the type which is commonly seen in legalistic Christian
communities. See on :19 Manifest. Legal obedience provokes all
manner of questions of interpretation and comparison with others; and it
also engenders pride and vainglory. The way of the Spirit, of salvation by
faith in grace, produces humility; and the proof of which way is right is
seen in the characters produced in those who believe the two schools of
thought. Jealousy, irritation, provocation etc. are the ideas carried by
the various Greek words used here- and such are the fruits of communal
legalism.
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