CHAPTER 5
That our calling is not subject to circumcision and law because of the suffering of Christ.
Galatians 5:1-8 Behold, I Paul say to you, that if you are circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. You are cut off from Christ; you who would be justified by the law have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision benefits anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working by love. You did run well; who hindered you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion comes not from him that called you.
" Behold, I Paul ." He used the authority of the name instead of any proof.
" Christ will profit you nothing ." Why? Because the one who is circumcised, as is clear, despises the grace of Christ and believes that he will be justified by the law. Therefore he who does not trust in Christ would not even take advantage himself.
" that he is a debtor to do the whole law ." Against the statement, he says, that no longer does one receive anything from Christ, which is more grievous than ten thousand Gehennas 1 . And such persons lay upon themselves a useless burden. For he who keeps the law in one point will be compelled to keep it in all things, since all will fail. What, then, is weightier than the observances of the law?
“ You are cut off from Christ .” You have been severed, you have fallen away from him; all things pertaining to Christ and his grace are now useless to you.
" you who would be justified by the law ." Instead of saying, "you are eager to be justified," he said something like this. You who are zealous to be justified by the law have fallen away from grace, and from the law you will not be justified.
" we through the Spirit ." For we the faithful, he says, do not expect to be saved by the law, but through the visitation of the Holy Spirit.
" by faith wait for the hope of righteousness ," expecting to be saved by a share of grace. Well placed is the phrase "by faith." For our faith must be considered, and therefore one receives justification through the Spirit by faith.
" neither circumcision benefits anything ." Paul says circumcision, not that which is from faith, as if he were saying: Those who are enrolled in the new covenant will not gain anything from foreskin, just as they will not benefit from circumcision.
" but faith working by love ." For it is not enough merely to believe in Christ; rather this faith must be active and preserved and in a sense rekindled by love toward Christ. It is implied that those who believed but did not love Christ have defected to the law.
" who hindered you? " The "who" is not of one asking, but of one sorrowful, as if he had said: You were reaching perfection, what has happened? Who has had such power as to prevent you from obeying the truth of the Gospel?
" This persuasion ," that is, being persuaded to be circumcised by those who tell you.
“This does not come from Christ, who calls you to His faith 2 .” So he said. You are not called by Christ for that reason, so as to be persuaded by those who give such counsel. For calling belongs to God alone, but the being persuaded belongs to those who hear.
Galatians 5:9-12 A little yeast infuses the whole batch of dough. I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will think nothing otherwise. But the one who is troubling you will bear the judgment, whoever he may be. Now, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? Then the offense of the cross has been abolished. I wish those who are unsettling you would even weaken themselves.
So that they might not say, "What great thing have we done by keeping only one commandment of the law?" he says, "One?" and what is that?
" A little yeast infuses the whole batch of dough ." For just as that infuses the whole batch, he says, so your circumcision will certainly bring in Judaism to perfection, unless you are corrected.
“ I have confidence in you in the Lord .” “Be of good courage,” he says, “be of good courage in the Lord, for you will be corrected, and you will take no thought contrary to my teaching.” This is by way of encouragement.
" But the one who is troubling you ." You may be disturbed, yet nevertheless those who brought you into this will not thereby be freed from punishment, but will bear and undergo this condemnation.
“ Now, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision. ” Since they were insulting him they said, “He is a hypocrite,” but elsewhere he does not say that he is persecuted by the Jews, and you yourselves know it. Therefore if I preach circumcision, it is unnecessary for me to be persecuted. What then? Did he not circumcise Timothy? But this we say was done according to a practical convenience, in order that he might be well received by the Jews. See, however, he did not say, If I wrought circumcision, but, if I am still preaching . For do not, Paul says, treat what was done for practical convenience as a doctrinal rule.
" Then the offense of the cross has been abolished ." Indeed, he says, if one must be circumcised, and I proclaim this as well, the Jews' combative opposition to the cross and their fight against it is ended, and they no longer struggle with it. For now they detest the cross because circumcision and the law are being undone by it.
" I wish those who are unsettling you ." Concerning you I care; but concerning those who have raised themselves against you, as though suffering from incurable diseases, no longer. Therefore let them not only be circumcised, but would that they had also cut themselves off.
" would even ." Would that they had also utterly cut themselves off, those who offer you the deceit of circumcision.
Signature according to the freedom of the spirit.
Galatians 5:13-15 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the saying, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, be careful for fear that you be consumed by one another.
“ For you were called to freedom .” For we are no longer under the law but serve in freedom.
" as an opportunity for the flesh ." Since he calls freedom both upward and downward, and that we have been freed through Christ from the law, he feared they might assume that the yoke of the law had been loosened and that from this time it is permissible to do whatever we wish. This is therefore corrected and he says: Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, to serve its desires and passions.
“ but through love .” Since he removed the yoke of the law, he imposes another, that of love, both lighter and stronger than that. And the phrase, " serve ," indicates the command essential in love. And rightly so the " one another ." For they had been infected with love of glory, those who stirred up opposition to circumcision.
" For the whole law ." If you really, he says, wish to fulfill the law, do not do so by circumcising, but by loving one another; in this way you fulfill it.
" But if you bite and devour one another ." And by "to bite" he says even more emphatically "to devour," inserting doctrines of this sort. For not so much body is expended by being devoured as the soul is corrupted by such doctrines.
“ be careful for fear that .” But he was terrified by this.
" that you be consumed by one another ." For this faction, he says, also has it in its power to harm you who are causing the disturbance. It is reasonable that he indicates this not only concerning doctrines, but also regarding clashes, and greed, and other injustices.
Galatians 5:16-21 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to one another, so that you may not do what you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, filthiness, idolatry, sorceries, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, revelries, dissensions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, mocking, and things like these. I warn you beforehand, as I also warned you before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
" walk by the Spirit ." Live and conduct yourselves according to the Spirit, he says, and do what seems to belong to it, and you will not fulfill the desire of the flesh.
" For the flesh desires against the Spirit ." By flesh here he means the fleshly and evil desires. And by spirit , the grace of the Holy Spirit toward virtue. And he says: Evil opposes virtue, and virtue in turn opposes evil, fulfilling the role of a certain guardian, and not allowing us to follow the wicked desires.
— [PHOTIUS] Virtue opposes vice, so that the fleshly will, stirred by vice, may not immediately, as if unrestrained and uncontrolled, be carried headlong toward sin. Again, vice opposes virtue, so that the practice of virtue may not be entirely effortless and unmerited, and as if joined to us by nature and necessity, and accomplished merely by thinking, without any earnestness or struggle.
He himself briefly says this: " so that you may not do what you wish ," neither the bad, he says, easily at all and without hindrance, nor indeed the good readily altogether and carelessly. Things therefore done would not even be good. [ end of the excerpt by Photius ] —
" But if you are led by the Spirit ." If, he says, you walk according to the will of the Holy Spirit, you will not go astray. But the one who does not stumble in anything does not need the law and its guidance that follows from it. And the one who does not need it is not under it, as he says elsewhere, the law does not apply to the righteous.
" are evident ." Therefore he seemed to say: From their own fruits you will recognize the wicked and base society.
But " flesh " he speaks of again, of the corrupting imagination and of the earthy and fleshly life.
" the works of the flesh ." It is therefore clear that by "flesh" he calls the fleshly mindset, that is, the soul's tendency toward worse things; and by "spirit" the given grace.
“ uncleanness, filthiness .” He says unclean and shamelessness, shameful practices of prostitution.
" enmities ." The unjust. For there are also just enmities, those arising from faithfulness. For he says that if it were possible for you to be at peace with all people, it is clear that there are times when this is not possible.
" jealousy ." For one must not be jealous, but rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
" rivalries ." As in quarrels arising from conflict.
" revelries ." To hurl hecklings and to taunt the convictions of others in a state of drunkenness.
" will not inherit the kingdom of God ." Meanwhile all will fall from power, yet there will be diversity in their punishments.
Galatians 5:22-26 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
He said " fruit " and not "work," in order to show that it needs the help of God in order to bear fruit.
" of the Spirit ." Concerning the same one of the Paraclete, or of the spiritual and virtuous life.
" joy ." To rejoice in God, to have a conscience. For such people rejoice.
" Against such things there is no law ." For he who has achieved these things does not need the law that instructs. For it is higher than that law.
“ Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh .” Then, for fear that they say, "And who does these things?" he says: These are they who do these things, who have crucified the flesh of Christ, that is, their own body (for the flesh of Christ is our body), and as it were have mortified it from fleshly affections. And not only the body, insofar as it was subject to passions they crucified, but also the passions themselves, insofar as they tended to be completed by them they were crucified, according to this interpretation; the rest is passing over.
Or in another way . And what do I say, he says, one by one a form of virtue? For there are some who have also crucified themselves, as regards their passions, and the passions, as regards themselves. According to this interpretation, the word does not apply to the δε. But those of Christ, that is, those who, stretching out their flesh, have crucified it. Therefore Clement in the fifth book of the Hypotyposes.
— [PHOTIUS] And there is the phrase, οἱ δὲ (But they), and instead of the phrase, “οὗτοι δὲ (But these),” to have heard. These are the ones I spoke of, those who crucified the flesh of Christ, and so on. [ end of the excerpt by Photius ] —
" let us also walk by the Spirit ." Therefore we too ought to live according to the will of the Spirit. Since we are going to crucify the flesh of ours once for all, “let us also walk by the Spirit,” he says, that is, let us be satisfied with the grace given by the Holy Spirit, and not seek to be saved by the law.
" Let us not become conceited ." For this is the source of all evils.
" provoking one another ." Clearly into quarrels.
" envying one another ." For envy comes from conceit, and from envy, countless evils.
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Translator notes for Galatians chapter 5.
1. “Gehennas” Γεεννῶν is the genitive plural form of the Greek noun γέεννα (Gehenna). It translates to "of hells" or "of Gehennas." Historically the Hinnom Valley was a real ravine south of Jerusalem. In the Old Testament, it was notorious for idolatrous rituals, including child sacrifice. Later it eventually became the city’s refuse dump, where fires burned continuously to consume waste and the bodies of those denied proper burial. Symbolically by the New Testament era, "Gehenna" became a symbolic term for a place of final punishment, torment, and the "unquenchable fire" for the wicked after death.
2. This is not a direct quote from Scripture. Perhaps Oecumenius had this as a variant reading in the Scripture text that he was using.
3. "revelries." [κῶμοι] The word Κῶμοι is the plural of the Ancient Greek word κῶμος, which refers to revelry, carousing, or riotous feasting. In the New Testament, κῶμοι is used in a negative sense to describe excessive, unrestrained, or immoral partying.