Chapter Five

An appeal to preserve Christian freedom (1–12). The moral teaching section of the letter (13–26)

Gal 5:1-12. Now the Apostle urges the Galatians to use their Christian freedom; he has proven above that they have a right to it. But if they, in their inclination toward the Law of Moses, should go so far as to have themselves circumcised, then through this they will be separated from Christ and deprived of His grace. Meanwhile, righteousness is obtained only through faith, which is expressed in deeds. Therefore, the Galatians should fear lest false teachers lead them astray from the one true path that leads to righteousness. In conclusion, the Apostle once more speaks of the inadmissibility of circumcision being performed on Christians.

Galatians 5:1. So stand firm in the freedom which Christ has given us, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Christians are therefore free from the law, as children of the free Sarah. Therefore, they must stand firm in this freedom given to them by Christ, and not submit to the law, which would make them slaves again (see Gal 4:9).

Galatians 5:2. Look, I, Paul, tell you: if you are circumcised, you will have no benefit from Christ. With full awareness of his authority (“I, Paul, tell you”), the Apostle points out to his readers such a situation: if they take up circumcision (apparently they have not yet done this), then they will forfeit the benefit which they now have from Christ. They will deprive of all significance not only all the work Paul did in Galatia, but will also lose what Christ has done for them and what He has promised to do.

Galatians 5:3. I further testify to every man who is circumcised, that he is obligated to keep the whole law. On the other hand, the Galatians should also take into account that by accepting the mark of circumcision, they thereby take on the obligation to keep the “entire” law. “I further testify.” The Apostle, apparently, had already spoken about this during his stay in Galatia. This was probably during the Apostle’s second visit to Galatia, when he conveyed to the Galatians the decision of the Apostolic Council (Acts 16:4).

Galatians 5:4. You who are seeking justification by the law have been cut off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. The Apostle particularly addresses those readers who sought to find the means for justification in the law. Such people (though most of the readers held a different view), it can be said, remain without Christ and without grace.

Galatians 5:5. But we, through the Spirit, wait for and hope for righteousness from faith. In contrast to such reckless people, the Apostle points to himself and to others among the Galatians who remain in grace, and to other Christians as well. “We through the Spirit, through the power of faith, wait for what is the object of our hope” (hope—in the sense of “we await” a good thing, as in Rom 8:24; Col 1:5), which consists in righteousness.” This is a better translation of this verse. The Apostle, apparently, wants to say that in contrast to those who judaize, who here on earth already thought they would obtain complete justification for keeping the law, Christians still only “hope” for this justification. The justification they have obtained here they consider far from sufficient. Only at the last judgment, thanks to their faith, will it be possible for them to obtain complete justification (see 2 Cor 5:10; Rom 14:19).

Galatians 5:6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any power, but faith working through love. Circumcision in itself had significance, but that was in the Old Testament, before Christ (Rom 2:25). Now, for the Christian, it is useless; and if a person entered the Church circumcised, he has nothing to boast about before an uncircumcised Christian. And the uncircumcised cannot boast of his uncircumcision. For salvation only faith is needed, working through love. The Apostle adds the last expression in order to show that faith itself will not serve for the justification of a person at the last judgment if it has not shown itself in this life through corresponding good deeds (see Rom 2:7).

Galatians 5:7. You were running well: who hindered you so that you are not obeying the truth? Galatians 5:8. This persuasion does not come from the One who calls you. The Apostle’s exhortations are understandable. One only needs to correct the Russian translation of the second half of verse 7, which does not correspond to the Greek text. That is, after the words “hindered you” a question mark should be placed, and thus we get a fragmentary sentence: “who hindered you” (on your good path)? Then the next sentence—also fragmentary: “obey” (i.e., the gospel) “the truth?” The Apostle expresses astonishment at how it is possible not to obey what the Galatians themselves recognized as truth. Zahn, based on ancient Western manuscripts, considers it possible to add to this expression the words: “listen to no one, that is, do not listen to anyone about not obeying the truth.” “This persuasion...” that is, the obedience you show to the words of those who judaize comes not at all from God, who calls you. “The calling by God” of believers, which the Galatians heard already during the first preaching of the Gospel (Gal 1:6), according to the Apostle’s understanding, continues at the present time (see 1 Thess 5:24; Rom 9:11) and will continue through the preachers of the Gospel (present tense).

Galatians 5:9. A little leaven ferments all the dough. The Galatians, apparently, were inclined to minimize the danger that threatened them from the false teachers. “What is dangerous about it?” they said. “After all, there are so few false teachers among us.” The Apostle counters this by pointing out that even a small amount of leaven is added to the dough, yet this leaven raises all the dough. So too, a small number of false teachers can cause much harm to the Galatian church.

Galatians 5:10. I am confident in the Lord concerning you that you will not think otherwise; but the one troubling you will bear the judgment, whoever he may be. Nevertheless, Paul has confidence, which God strengthens in him (“in the Lord”), that the Galatians will not think otherwise than as the Apostle taught them. But since they were apparently being quite lenient toward those who judaize, the Apostle considers it necessary to say that these false teachers, without exception or distinction (“whoever he may be”), if they trouble the Galatians, will bear punishment from God (see 2 Pet 2:3; Rom 3:8).

Galatians 5:11. Now, why am I being persecuted, brothers, if I still preach circumcision? Then the offense of the cross would have been removed. What particularly arouses the Apostle’s anger is the fact that those who judaize distort historical facts, and specifically the meaning of the Apostle Paul’s actions. They themselves, of course, preach circumcision, without which, they claim, Christians from the gentiles cannot attain justification and the inheritance promised to Abraham. But besides that, they also say that the Apostle Paul himself sometimes preached the same (Instead of: “why am I being persecuted, brothers?” it is better, according to the word order in the Greek text, to translate: “But I, O brothers... if I still preach circumcision, why am I being persecuted? Thus” (or should thus be removed) “the offense of the cross of Christ”). The false teachers, apparently, were leveling against Paul the accusation that in his desire to be condescending to the customs of those among whom he had to work, he allowed himself to perform circumcision on Christians as well. They drew such a conclusion from the fact that Paul circumcised Timothy (Acts 16:3) and did not consider circumcision inconsistent with the status of a Christian (1 Cor 7:18), and also did not protest against the circumcision of the children of Jewish Christians who lived among Christians from the gentiles (Acts 21:21-24). But if this were actually so, people would stop attacking him for his preaching about the cross, that is, about the necessity of the Messiah’s death on the cross, which appeared to the Jews as extremely offensive (see 1 Cor 1:23). However, the Jews, and also, in their own way, the false teachers, continue to persecute him and in every way hinder the success of his preaching. Is it not clear from this that they are lying when they assert that even the Apostle himself would not mind recognizing the necessity of circumcision, which is so dear to them?

Galatians 5:12. O, if only those troubling you would castrate themselves! More correctly: “O, if only those troubling you would straightway castrate themselves!” (The verb is translated into Russian imprecisely as “removed”: it means precisely castration; see Deut 23:1; Justin, Apology 1:27). Since the false teachers put too much importance on the removal of the foreskin—a purely external matter—then let them, like the priests of Cybele, just cut off their male organs altogether: then they would show themselves to Christians in all their delusion and would not be dangerous as false teachers—Christians would understand them completely... Gal 5:13-26. In the moral teaching section of his letter, the Apostle first of all calls the Galatians to fulfill the great commandment of love for one’s neighbor. Then he urges them to understand that the true Christian freedom to which he has called them is not some kind of unbridled indulgence of the passions. On the contrary, a free person wages a persistent struggle against the passions. In doing so, the Apostle lists the very passions or deeds of the flesh and contrasts them with the fruits of spiritual life, which he calls his readers to live.

Galatians 5:13. You were called to freedom, brothers; only do not let your freedom become a pretext for the flesh, but serve one another through love. Galatians 5:14. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Galatians 5:15. But if you bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another. “Only do not let your freedom become a pretext”—in Greek, a point of support (see Rom 7:11). “But serve one another through love.” Only then will freedom not lead to indulgence of the flesh, when Christians strive to do good to one another, guided by true Christian love. “For the whole law...” Although the commandment of love has been placed on the same level as the other commandments, in fact it has exceptional importance, because in fulfilling it, we at the same time fulfill all the commandments of the law (see Rom 13:8). “You bite and devour one another...” The Apostle, apparently, knew that among the Galatians partisanship had reached the degree of mutual hatred.

Galatians 5:16. I say: walk according to the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:17. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh: they oppose each other, so that you do not do what you want. In order for love to be revived in the Galatians, the Apostle advises them to “walk according to the Spirit,” that is, to be guided by the higher side of human existence; then they will not “accomplish the desires of the flesh,” that is, they will have the power to restrict them in every way, though of course a person cannot completely suppress them. “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit...” see the letter to Rom 7:15 and following.

Galatians 5:18. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. A Christian, filled with love, guided in his activity by the guidance of the Spirit rather than the flesh, does not need the guidance of external legal prescriptions: he already fulfills it in all its fullness, even as if not knowing it. “Whoever is not angry has no need to hear: Do not kill” (Chrysostom).

Galatians 5:19. The deeds of the flesh are evident; they are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecency, Galatians 5:20. idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, disputes, divisions, (offenses,) heresies, Galatians 5:21. hatred, murders, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I warn you, as I have warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. What the Apostle is speaking against—there is no need to think about this at length. Every Christian can easily decide for himself what deeds of the flesh are those against which the Apostle speaks. The first four sins are sins of the flesh in the strict sense, that is, they relate to unchaste sexual life. Then two sins stand side by side: idolatry and the use of magic means (see Rev 21:8; Deut 18:10). The five following words denote bad dispositions and incorrect relations with one’s neighbor. Where such a disposition becomes established, there—“divisions” (see Rom 16:17 and 1 Cor 11:18) and warring factions appear. Furthermore, the Apostle mentions hatred, murder, drunkenness, and carousing as phenomena most opposed to him. “Warned”—that is, spoke as about something future, something that still threatens you if you do such deeds. “The kingdom of God”—see 1 Cor 6:9 and following; Rom 6:17; 1 Thess 4:1 and following.

Galatians 5:22. But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Galatians 5:23. gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. The virtues opposite to the deeds of the flesh the Apostle regards as a single fruit of the Spirit, despite their apparent diversity. By “spirit” one can understand here the human spirit, but at the same time penetrated by the Spirit of God. “Faithfulness”—here in the sense of trustworthiness in relation to one another. “Against such things”—that is, for such people there is no law. Even the Law of Moses will not condemn such people, who possess all the virtues and perhaps only in insignificant cases do not follow the provisions that existed at a certain time and in a limited space (see Rom 8:31-34). After all, in the love with which they live, all the essential content of the law is fulfilled.

Galatians 5:24. But those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Fortunately, Christians (“who belong to Christ”) cannot be carried away by the deeds of the flesh. They have crucified it with all its passions and desires when, in baptism, they died with Christ.

Galatians 5:25. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Galatians 5:26. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. To such perfect Christians the Galatians also should belong, but in their present state they are still far from perfection. After all, they too died with Christ for the deeds of the flesh and began the life of the Spirit. And this life they should manifest in appropriate deeds. “Walk by the Spirit.” Here stands the verb meaning “walk together, alongside,” in contrast to the kind of walking which is denoted by another verb Gal 5:16 (which can mean walking alone). If one takes this into account, then one can say that the subsequent exhortations have in view not the personal spiritual state of an individual Christian, but the mutual relations of Christians and church-communal life. To verse 26 it is convenient to apply the first expression Gal 6:1—“brothers.” There is a separate address: “you, spiritual ones,” and here this word “brothers” perfectly underlines the Apostle’s call for restraint from all conceit, which completely destroys proper, brotherly relations among Christians. “Put away conceit and mutual provocation and envy, you, brothers”—thus one can convey the meaning of verse 26.