Galatians 5:13-15

Galatians 5:13-Ezra : . First safeguard. They are free indeed, and as Christians are done with Law; but love will save them from indulging lower impulses. Love (as Jesus taught, Mark 12:31 and parallels) includes everything (more fully Romans 13:9 f.). Paul fears cruel partisanships in Galatia— love will prove a remedy.

Galatians 5:16-Jeremiah : . Second safeguard— the Spirit; a source not only of trust in God, but of moral activity. Spirit and “ flesh,” the renewed nature and the lower nature of man, are flatly antagonistic; we “ cannot” but be thwarted on one side or other. (In strict classical grammar, Galatians 5:17 d means “ in order that,” etc., and ought to refer to a Divine appointment. If that be the meaning here, it is best to regard “ for these . . . other” as a parenthesis, and to take the Divine purpose to be “ We must not obey our lower promptings.” But it is not certain that Paul’ s grammar is strictly classical.) If we are true to the promptings of the renewed nature, Law has no charge to bring against us.

Galatians 5:19 . the works of the flesh include much besides sensuality. From the very first ( Galatians 5:21) Paul must have warned inquirers and converts against bad lives. Per contra ( Galatians 5:22) the fruit (not, as often misquoted, “ fruits” ) of the Spirit grows out of a renewed heart, and includes “ love . . . fidelity . . . self-control.”— against such: Paul knows of a law which says “ Do this and live” ( Galatians 3:12); but he usually thinks of the Law as saying, “ Thou shalt not” ( Romans 7:7), and as a gigantic enemy. The true Christian has no such enemy to fear. He has broken once for all with reigning sin.