1 Christ freed us to make us really free. So remain firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
2 I, Paul, say this to you: if you receive circumcision, Christ can no longer help you.
3 Once more I say to whoever receives circumcision: you are now bound to keep the whole Law.
4 All you who pretend to become righteous through the ob servance of the Law have separated yourselves from Christ and have fallen away from grace.
5 As for us, through the Spirit and faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
6 In Christ Jesus it is irrelevant whether we be circumcised or not; what matters is faith working through love.
7 You had begun your race well, who then hindered you on the way? Why did you stop obeying the truth?
8 This was not in obedience to God who calls you:
9 in fact, a little leaven is affecting the whole of you.
10 I am per sonally convinced that you will not go astray, but the one who confuses you, whoever he may be, shall receive punishment.
11 I myself, brothers, could I not preach circumcision? Then I would no longer be persecuted. But where would be the scandal of the cross?
12 Would that those who confuse would castrate themselves!
True freedom
13 You, brothers and sisters, were called to enjoy freedom; I am not speak ing of that freedom which gives free rein to the desires of the flesh, but of that which makes you slaves of one another through love.
14 For the whole Law is summed up in this sentence: You shall love your neigh bor as yourself.
15 But if you bite and tear each other to pieces, be careful lest you all perish.
16 Therefore I say to you: walk ac cording to the Spirit and do not give way to the desires of the flesh!
17 For the desires of the flesh war against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are opposed to the flesh. Both are in conflict with each other, so that you cannot do everything you would like.
18 But when you are led by the Spirit you are not under the Law.
19 You know what comes from the flesh: fornication, impurity and shame lessness,
20 idol worship and sorcery, hatred, jealousy and violence, anger, ambition, division, factions,
21 and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I again say to you what I have already said: those who do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy and peace, patience, understanding of others, kind ness and fidelity,
23 gentleness and self-control. For such things there is no Law or punishment.
24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its vices and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us live in a spiritual way.
26 Let us not be conceited; let there be no rivalry or envy of one another.
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Comments Letter to the Galatians, Chapter 5
• 5.1 Paul does not want converts to be circumcised. See how firmly he speaks to them: this would be a falling away from grace. Why? It was not a sin, Paul could well have tolerated without encouraging it.
Yet for Paul, you cannot preach the Gospel in an authentic way without taking stances that upset others. Again “the truth of the Gospel” is not only in the formulas of dogma: it is also in the stand you take, showing how free we are. If the Gospel is libera t ion, the apostles should adopt, at least on certain points, positions that disturb and shock. Jesus gave an example in violating the holiest of laws, that of the Sabbath, when it was not necessary to do so.
Such is the necessary scandal in all Christian behavior, which will never be as scandalous as was Jesus’ death on a cross (see 1Cor 1:17). To save people means, some how, making them discover who they are before God, and then bringing them to confront the forces that have kept them subjugated and alienated. This is why Paul was so opposed to perpetuating Jewish practices. Following Paul, we could ask in our days: Who are those who give in to prejudices and alienating powers, and who are the persecuted (5:11; 6:12)? Oftentimes, the Gospel is lived more authentically in Christian groups that are politically aware and active than in groups that limit themselves to liturgical practices.
• 13. If the Galatians are looking out for religious practices it is partly because they feel that faith should be expressed in a concrete way. Here Paul tells them: if you are anxious for putting faith into life, look at your community life. We, like them, are terribly accustomed to a double life: on one hand we proclaim we are children of God, we speak of grace, of spiri tual life, while we are terribly ordinary, often very dishonest and malicious in daily life or with our rivals within the Church, especially if we have a title to defend.
Paul rightly gives a short list of the works of the flesh and ano ther of the fruits of the Spirit. He places side by side idolatry and the ambitions or divisions so common in reli gious and practicing groups. It is clear that for him flesh and spirit are not the same as “body” and “soul”: the pettiness and attachment to our privileges are also sins of the flesh, that is of people alien to the Spirit (see com. on 3:3and Rom 7:16).