In Galatians 5-6:10, Paul draws the ethical implications of the freedom that Christians have received in Christ. Verses 2-12 are threads that connect the present section to topics he had previously expounded on:
- the Gentiles, the decision of the Council of Jerusalem and Paul's consistency in abiding by the decision of the Council (2:1-14)
- the theme of justification by faith in Christ and its consequence: the Galatians' becoming heirs of Abraham's promise (2:15-3:29)
- the allegory of Sarah and Hagar (a reworking of the previous theme from a different perspective, 4:21-31)
The previous sections of the letter show that the Galatians' falling back to ritual observances and rules are inconsistent to their status of freed men. They have been freed by Christ from the observance of ritual laws so that they can become available for service.
The freedom of the Christian is freedom in the Spirit. This is the heart of Paul's arguments in 5:13-6:10. Below is an outline of this section:
5:13-15 Christian freedom is not freedom according to the flesh
5:16-18 Christian freedom is freedom under the Spirit
5:19-21 The works of the flesh
5:22-26 The fruits of the Spirit
6:1-6 The principle of living in the Spirit applied in community life
6:7-10 Summary: Do not tire of doing good.
Paul's arguments about the Flesh and the Spirit and their "lusting (wrestling) against each other" is understood within the context of biblical anthropology. Genesis 2:7 is important in this regard:
The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And man became a nephesh.
This account of the creation of man illustrates how the coming together of two elements, one earth-ward (flesh) and the other God-ward (Spirit) constitutes the nephesh, a Hebrew word which can be translated as "soul" but which also functions as the pronoun "I". Given this situation, whenever the earthy element in man on the one hand, and the Spirit, on the other, move to their opposite directions, it is the "I" that feels the tension. Paul describes the drame of this tension in Romans 6-8, where the "I" finds itself in difficulty because the good that he sees he must do, he cannot perform. It is also due to this that though the Law was given so that the "I" can live according to his Godward "instinct", the Law does not empower him to live in that way. That is why, the "I" at the end of Rom. 7 would cry out: "Miserable man that I am, who will deliver me from this mortal body? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ Our Lord! (Rom. 7:24-25)"
For what the Law weakened by sin was powerless to do
this God, has done
by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for the sake of sin,
He condemned sin in the flesh
so that the righteous decree of the Law may be fulfilled in us who live not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:3-4)
These two verses are packed. Paul is saying a lot of things here:
- the Law was powerless to make man righteous before God (since what it does is to show sin where it is found, cf. Rom. 7:7-12)
- in order to make man righteous, God himself sent His Son to fulfill what man cannot
- the Son sinless yet taking upon himself sinful humanity, took upon Himself the just decree of the law. Since the wages of sin is death, what should have been ours has been nullified when Christ died by the Law (cf. 5:12-21)
- baptized into Christ, we have died to the flesh so that we can live in the Spirit that has been poured into us (cf. Rom. 5:5;6:5-11;7:4-6)
In other words, the Christian has been freed from the clutches of the flesh when he died to it in baptism. Baptized, he began to live in the Spirit of Christ which now must become the power that moves him. The Spirit is a spirit of freedom, not of "licentiousness" which is like freedom but is not. In the words of Paul, it is freedom used "as an opportunity for the flesh." True freedom is in harmony with the status of the Christian whose life is lived in faith in Christ "who loved me and gave himself up for me." (Gal. 2:20) The list of "works of the flesh" and "fruits of the Spirit" are given by Paul as a guide for discerning whether one is living according to the flesh or the Spirit. It is to be noted that these vices and virtues respectively destroy communion or build it up. Life in the Spirit is life lived in communion with the household of the faith. Gal. 6:1-6 are very brief applications of what he has been explaining to the life of the Galatian community. Verses 7-8 is the application of the saying "a person reaps what he sows" to the flesh<-->spirit lesson he just explained. And verses 9-10 is a fitting conclusion to the Paul's exhortation that Christian freedom is to spent in service:
Let us not grow tired of doing good
for in due time we will reap our harvest (of eternal life, cf. 6:8) if we do not give up
So then while we have the opportunity
let us do good to all
but especially to those who belong to the famly of faith.
Freedom is always "freedom from" and "freedom for." The freedom that the Christian has received at a very high cost is an investment God makes on man that man can truly be himself: His sons and daughters in Christ. And that investment is spent -- one's sense of gratitude demands it -- in the service of the neighbor, the member of God's household (cf. 5:14).
