The Fruit of the Spirit; Crucifying the Flesh (Continued) (Galatians 5:13–25)

“And the like” in both kinds of sinful deeds, both in the lustful and in the wrathful. One can complete this list, following the example of what has been said, by oneself.

“Which I declare beforehand”—concerning them I am speaking in advance, that is, before the judgment comes; “as I have also said before”,—as I have already said, likewise in advance, probably when I personally taught them instructions about the Christian manner of life. “That those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God”. They will definitely not inherit the Kingdom of God, which will be revealed at the second coming, unspeakably blessed and eternal. The judgment over them seems already pronounced and sealed. But when the Apostle says: “those who do such things”,—he gives to understand that this judgment over them is in force as long as they remain in this kind of deeds. If they depart from that circle, the judgment will not fall on them. This blessed change is expected of them until the last breath. Until then the promise holds—to lift this sentence from them. But when death opens the door to the other life and departure from here closes it, then all is at an end.

Blessed Augustine writes: “those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God”. Indeed, these things are done also by those who, yielding to the desires of the flesh, lust after their works, even though they do not have the power to carry them out. But those who, feeling the onslaught of fleshly movements, remain unyielding to them and not only do not place the members of their body as instruments for doing sin, but do not even by a gesture give consent to it, these do not do such things and, consequently, will inherit the Kingdom of God. For clearly, in their deadened body sin no longer reigns so as to be obeyed in its lusts, although it still dwells in it. It is one thing to sin, and another to have sin. In the one in whom sin does not reign, that is, who does not obey its lusts, he does not sin; but in the one who would have no sinful desires at all, he not only would not sin, but would have no sin at all. This, however, in this life can be attained only to a certain degree; in perfection it will appear after the resurrection.

Gal. 5:22–23. Now the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control: against such things there is no law.

Having renounced once and for all, in the acceptance of faith and in baptism, and then constantly renouncing, in life, the suggestions and impulses of selfishness along with the passions, the zealous Christian, always faithful to his calling, under the action of the grace of the Holy Spirit develops in himself and fosters, in opposition to passions and lusts, good and God-pleasing dispositions and strivings, which, having become the structure of his heart, constitute in him that hidden in the heart of man, which is predestined to be the man of blessed eternity.

Lusts and passions, works of the flesh, have come into us and multiplied from selfishness, that evil seed sown by the tempter; but good dispositions are akin to us: they are inseparable qualities of a God-pleasing spirit. When grace, having descended within us, quickens our spirit, all the dispositions and strivings akin to it come into motion. Not at once, however, do they come into force. They are fostered by the labors of acting according to the impulse of the spirit. For the rejected selfishness with its host of passions stands there against us, face to face, and hinders them from flowing freely. Against each good disposition stands its own passion. In the measure that the passion is mortified, the good disposition arises. Here the same happens as when a person extricated from a mire or from tenacious clinging weeds frees one arm, then another, then one leg, then another. Thus with the Christian and his passions. Through struggle with himself, by the labors of ascetic effort, he purifies from passions one good disposition after another, until he purifies all, and they will appear in their proper fullness, force and beauty.

Without this labor and struggle you will not attain it. But both the labor and sweat give nothing firm and lasting by themselves. The desire, the seeking and the labor are ours, but the fruit—the Spirit of God produces in the heart secretly, beneath the covering of our barren labor. For example, the irascible man struggles with himself and seeks meekness; but the very meekness he fosters and strengthens in his heart through the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is why Saint Paul entitled this list of good dispositions as follows: “the fruit of the Spirit is”. Spiritual—in Greek: πνευματος,—of the Spirit, that is, fruit of the Spirit. Saint Chrysostom says: “evil deeds come from us alone, therefore the Apostle calls them works of the flesh; but good dispositions require not only our effort, but also the loving-kindness of God (that is, the grace of the Spirit).” “For by the cooperation of the Spirit the soul makes progress in each of these deeds” (Blessed Theodoret). So too all our commentators.

In enumerating the very virtues by which the Spirit adorns the heart of the faithful Christian, the Apostle does not set them in direct correspondence with the passions and lusts enumerated above. But here too there are two kinds of them, as there are above. Against anger and its offspring the Apostle sets several kind dispositions; and against all the works of lust—one self-control.

Our commentators do not enter into a detailed examination of these virtues. Only Blessed Jerome makes several remarks on each of them.

“Love”. As all passions come from self-love, which draws everything to itself; so all good dispositions come from love, which has trampled selfishness and is ready to sacrifice all for the good of others without thinking of itself. “And what virtue is it proper to hold the first place among the fruits of the Spirit if not love, without which the other virtues are not counted as virtues and from which all good things are born? And in the Law and in the Gospel it is given the place of primacy: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might: and your neighbor as yourself’ (Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:37, 39)” (Blessed Jerome). Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians, having said that without love everything is nothing, then describes the deeds of love thus: “Love is patient, and kind: love does not envy: love does not vaunt itself, is not puffed up, does not behave unseemly, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil. Rejoices not in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth: covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:4–8). All the subsequent virtues point only to different aspects of love.

“Joy”. Joy, of course, in the Holy Spirit, in the order of the spiritual life: for “it is not given to the wicked to rejoice” (Is. 57:21). Ordinary joy comes from the acquisition of earthly goods. Spiritual joy comes from the feeling of well-being in the spirit. As the feeling of health is inseparable from the healthy; so spiritual joy is from the one living in the spirit and not committing the desires of the flesh. This is the joy of the saved, who sees clearly that he has escaped ruin. It cannot be manufactured; it arises and stands by itself. The Apostle’s command: “always rejoice” (1 Thess. 5:16),—may be even more a sign that if you are not rejoicing, then you are not standing in the true order. According to the assurance of Palladius of Helenopolis in the “Lausiac History,” in the monastery of Abba Apollos there were about 500 brothers, and they all always rejoiced, despite the great deprivations of the desert, and they rejoiced with such joy that no one here on earth could point to such joy and bodily gladness. Among them there was no one bored or sorrowful, and Abba Apollos was accustomed to say: “those who are to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven must not grieve on the way of salvation; let the pagans groan, let the Jews weep, let sinners sorrow, but those who walk the right path ought to rejoice” (Lausiac History, 47).

“‘Peace’. The one who has trampled the passions has a peaceful disposition of heart, undisturbed by anything, a bright state of spirit standing in the heart in consciousness before God, abhorring all that is wrong and walking in what is alone right. This inner peaceful disposition appears also outwardly in peacefulness with all and in the spreading of peace around. There are such graceful persons who, as soon as they appear in a circle, immediately establish peace and concord. “These are the blessed peacemakers, whom the Lord distinguished by calling them sons of God. They are peaceable even with those who hate peace” (Ps. 119:6). And for that reason God dwells in them: ‘for His place is in peace’ (Ps. 75:2)” (Blessed Jerome, not word for word).

“Patience”. It, as an unbreakable wall, guards peace, joy and love, itself receiving from them both tempered strength and inseparable cement. The world lies in evil. Living in it, one cannot escape being wounded by evil. Sorrows and privations strike less than slander and attacks from evil people. To the enemy these are the strongest weapons for disturbing those who live in the spirit. He usually approaches them with this weapon when he sees that they are no longer yielding to any of the desires of the flesh. Seeing that he cannot take them this way, he directs evil people against them, so that, if someone has departed from the flesh, he may hold him back through anger and hatred toward his offenders and thereby deprive him of the salvation he is working out: for “whoever is angry with his brother is liable to judgment” (Matt. 5:22). Against these snares the grace of God raises in the heart an unassailable wall—patience, by which all the arrows of the evil one are repelled. Patience stands on the conviction that slanders and attacks from others are not their doing, but the doing of the enemy; therefore it does not rise up in anger against people, but arms itself with enmity toward the enemy, preserving good disposition toward people. By this patience outwits the enemy. Why the Wise One says of it: “the patient man is rich in understanding: but the short-tempered man is greatly foolish” (Prov. 14:29).

“Kindness”, χρηστοτης,—“pleasantness, a manner of conduct that inclines toward fellowship, sweet speech, attractive ways” (Blessed Jerome). Those who live in the spirit bear a special mark upon themselves. How orderly is everything in them, everything fitting in time, place and persons, both in word and in deed! And this is not determined by the mind, but comes straight from the heart. They are pleasing to all, for all they are like oil on wounds. And this almost always without any external advantages: neither nobility of birth, nor education, nor means have any part in this quality. It comes from the riches of the spirit, covered by profound humility.

“Compassion”, αγαθωσυνη,—heartfelt sympathy and compassion, with readiness to do all for the good of another. As a mother grieves for her children, so compassion for all Christians. Their good is its good, forgetting itself. It is ready to undress itself to clothe another, to leave itself hungry to feed another, to give its healthy body to the sick person and to take the sick one for itself. It will be praised above all virtues in the judgment.

“Faith”—not the holding of dogmas, but confidence in God, that He will never abandon in anything, that He holds and leads by the very best way and will bring to a good end, that all is from Him and all is for the good, even if unpleasant, that no one can say or do anything to which God has not consented, that in everything His holy will reigns, therefore one lives peacefully in dedication to God’s will. This faith gave rise to martyrs, and after them to voluntary sufferers and desert ascetics. And it everywhere inspires piety and life in the spirit.

“Meekness”—“is opposed to anger and all irritability. For it the servant of God Moses received such a testimony: ‘Moses was very meek, beyond all the men who were on the earth’ (Num. 12:3). And of David it was said: ‘Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness’ (Ps. 131:1), which was especially shown in him in his relations with Saul, Absalom and Shimei” (Blessed Jerome). This is not insensitivity of heart, but a disposition formed in the heart by the Spirit, who mortifies the deeds of the flesh, for which the Lord promised the inheritance of the earth of the good: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:4). And in Himself the Lord pointed out meekness most of all for imitation: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart” (Matt. 11:29).

“Self-control”—not only as the beginning of chastity, but as the bridling of desires regarding food, drink and every other lust (Blessed Jerome). There is self-control at the beginning, when, having loved this virtue, one seeks it. Here thoughts and desires are aroused and often produce sympathy and inclination, but are rejected by the force of will, strengthened by the spirit. The self-control of the perfect, however, is a rooted virtue, when the arising thoughts no longer waver. Strict life in all things becomes then a constant norm. The object of self-control is the training of the body and its adaptation to spiritual life, through the habit of satisfying its necessary needs with the least expenditure. The ascetics say: train the body, and it will be your best helper in life according to the spirit. Every pleasure—from satisfying the body with sleep, food, clothing and shelter—only then loses its attraction when the consolations of the spirit arise and grow.

“Against such there is no law”. Κατα τοιουτων—against such, that is, against these virtues or against those who have these virtues. The thought remains the same. The Law is presented as a persecutor of all sin and as a preserver of people from it. But whoever possesses the fruits of the Spirit shown, in him not only is all sin driven out of the circle of deeds, but also every passion from the heart. Consequently, there is nothing for the law to drive in such a person, and no need to guard him either. The Law is not for such persons. Saint Chrysostom says: “Who can teach the one who has everything in himself, and love as the most perfect teacher of wisdom? As gentle horses, which by themselves do all things, have no need of the whip, so too the soul, which does good by the action of the Spirit, has no need for the prescriptions of the Law. Thus the Apostle also here with marvelous wisdom rejects the Law, not because it is bad, but because it is below the wisdom given by the Spirit”.

And here it is as before, where he said: “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law”. He said that those led by the Spirit are not under the Law; now, having enumerated the fruits of the Spirit, that is, having shown who are led by the Spirit or in what this leading is revealed, it fell to him to say: here is who are not under the Law. But he says it in other words, in the same thought, however: against such there is no law. The Law does not concern such, does not have them in view. In general, where the discussion concerns laws of virtues, although it is spoken of the needlessness of such laws, yet not at all because virtues are not binding for Christians, but because they already carry them in their hearts; these laws are written anew in their hearts, as was promised also through the Prophets.

Gal. 5:24. But those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Who are Christ’s? Those who have believed in Him and cleaved to Him in love and whom He for that reason has accepted into communion, has taken as His own or recognized as His. Such crucify their flesh at the very moment of approaching the Lord: without this it is impossible to approach Him. The flesh—here is understood, as above, the sin living in us or selfishness and self-pleasing, from which come all passions and lusts. And who approaches the Lord, his first step is determined thus: “let him deny himself, and take up his cross” (Matt. 16:24). Denial of self is precisely the trampling of selfishness, or the crucifixion of the flesh. This kind of action is as a covenant concluded with the Lord in baptism, when the baptized renounces Satan and all his works and is joined with the Lord. This moral act is then sealed by grace in baptism, and the baptized is given strength for its sake to no longer serve sin, but to reject, hate and pursue it. This means that the baptized dies to sin and lives for new, graceful life in the Lord. Otherwise, the Apostle speaks of the same thing as the crucifixion of the old man and the abolition of the body of sin, that is, the whole corpus of sin,—selfishness with its passions. This is how the Christian, at the very moment he becomes Christ’s, crucifies his flesh with its passions and lusts. Why does the Apostle mention this here? Everything is for the sake of the fullest elucidation of the subject under discussion, that is, life in the spirit. Life in the spirit, as was understood, is to be conscious in the heart before the Lord and to direct all one’s deeds, both internal and external, toward pleasing God, to the glory of the Lord, with the rejection, trampling and pursuit of all wrong movements in thoughts and desires. This rejection of wrong things within is itself the crucifixion of selfishness, from which all wrong comes. Thus, the crucifixion of selfishness—of the flesh—is an inseparable attribute of spiritual life. Saint Chrysostom says: “Lest they ask: who then are they (that is, those against whom there is no law) such? —he points them out from their deeds: those who have crucified the flesh. For though passions harass them, they rise up against them in vain and without success”.

When it is said: “crucified”—once and for all—by this is understood that moral turning in which the one approaching the Lord makes a vow not to yield to sin to the end of life; and for this strength is given in baptism. Selfishness is trampled, rejected, crucified. After that, though it may approach, it obtains nothing. Every time it is trampled with contempt and crucified. The whole life of the Christian is a crucifixion of the flesh of sin; but this is the fruit and realization of that first act by which selfishness is cast out of consciousness and freedom and deprived of all right to exert determining power over deeds. Without this first and subsequent acts cannot be: they are linked as root and trunk with branches. Therefore the Apostle says: crucified—once, but there is such power in it that it will suffice for a whole life.

That this crucifixion is not mechanical but moral, Blessed Augustine expresses well. He derives the crucifying force from the fear of God being reborn in the spirit, by which the beginning of conversion is set and the right life of the convert is then supported and maintained. “By what were they crucified, if not by the fear of God, pure, abiding forever and ever (Ps. 18:10), in which we fear to offend the One whom we love with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind? The Prophet also desires to be crucified by this fear when he says: Nail my flesh with Your fear (Ps. 118:120). But fear crucifies on that cross of which the Lord speaks: ‘Take up your cross and follow Me’ (cf. Matt. 16:24).”

Gal. 5:25. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

This is the conclusion from all that precedes. The Apostle speaks as if to say: if we live by the Spirit, that is, if we have abandoned elementary ways of pleasing God, shaken off the yoke of the Law, received freedom from it, in order to please God by moral dispositions coming from the Spirit; then we must also walk by the Spirit, that is, we must conform our way of thinking, our feelings, our dispositions, our words, our deeds, our whole conduct to its demands. “Be guided by”, στοιχωμεν,—which means: let us be in harmony, let us accord with it. The demands of the Spirit he has already portrayed under the guise of its fruits. And it is clear what it means to walk by the Spirit: it means to show in one’s life those qualities which are the fruit of the Spirit, so strictly that nothing of what is a work of the flesh—selfishness—enters into it. This cannot be accomplished without struggle with oneself. Therefore here too is concluded the law of this warfare, whose starting point and driving force are indicated in the preceding verse. Spiritual life is an inexhaustible source of consolations; but they are not gained for free. Someone expressed it: give blood, and receive the Spirit.