Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He continues to urge the Galatians not to take on the yoke of the Old Law, lest they become deprived of the fruit and righteousness of Christ, in whom neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith which works through charity.
Hence secondly, in verse 13, he calls them to Christian liberty, and teaches that it is set in charity and the Spirit; and so from the first part of the epistle, namely the dogmatic, he passes to the other, namely the ethical.
Then thirdly, in verse 17, he teaches that the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and contrariwise: and he reviews both the works of the flesh and those of the Spirit.
Vulgate Text: Galatians 5:1-26
1. Stand, and do not be held again under the yoke of slavery. 2. Behold, I Paul say to you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3. And I testify again to every man circumcising himself, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4. You are made void of Christ, you who are justified in the law: you are fallen from grace. 5. For we in spirit, by faith, await the hope of righteousness. 6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision: but faith that works through charity. 7. You were running well; who hindered you that you should not obey the truth? 8. This persuasion is not from him that called you. 9. A little leaven corrupts the whole lump. 10. I have confidence in you in the Lord, that you will be of no other mind: but he that troubles you shall bear the judgment, whoever he is. 11. And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then is the scandal of the cross made void. 12. I would that they who trouble you were even cut off. 13. For you have been called unto liberty, brethren: only do not make liberty an occasion to the flesh, but by the charity of the Spirit serve one another. 14. For all the law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 15. But if you bite and devour one another: take heed lest you be consumed by one another. 16. And I say: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the desires of the flesh. 17. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: for these are contrary to one another: that you do not do whatsoever you would. 18. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest: which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, 20. idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, 21. envies, murders, drunkennesses, revellings, and such like, which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God. 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is: charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, 23. mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity. Against such there is no law. 24. And they that are of Christ have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences. 25. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26. Let us not be made desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another.
Verse 1: Stand, and Be Not Held Again Under the Yoke of Slavery
1. Stand, — persist firm and constant in the faith and liberty of Christ, which was treated at the end of the preceding chapter. Indeed the Greeks, Ambrose, the Syriac, and Augustine join "stand" with the last words of the preceding chapter, and so begin this chapter thus: "In the liberty therefore" (for the Greek has this mark of inference), "with which Christ has set us free, stand fast," that is: "With the liberty therefore with which Christ has set us free, stand."
Be not held again under the yoke of slavery. — That is: Once you served idols and demons; why do you wish to serve again, not idols, but the shadows and the gross and burdensome ceremonies of the law of Moses? Note: For "be held" the Greek has ἐνέχεσθε, that is, as Vatablus says, "be not entangled"; Erasmus, "be not ensnared," that is: The Judaizers entice you to the law as to nets and snares, and ensnare you with them, and so entangle you that you cannot extricate and disentangle yourselves from so many and so various winding precepts and convolutions of the law.
Verse 2: If You Be Circumcised, Christ Shall Profit You Nothing
2. If you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing, — if you take up circumcision as necessary for salvation, if you place the hope of righteousness and salvation in it, Christ — that is, the redemption of Christ, faith, grace, baptism, religion, namely Christianity itself — shall profit you nothing. And this is what you seem to be doing, O Galatians; and this the Judaizers persuade you of: for since you are Gentiles, baptized while in heathenism, and made Christians, why do you join circumcision to baptism? You can offer no other just cause for this deed of yours, unless you think that circumcision avails to righteousness and salvation, and that baptism does not suffice for it; for you cannot offer the pretext that the Jews offer, namely, that they still circumcise themselves for the honor of their law and nation: for this is still a just ground and reason for keeping the law, provided they do not place the hope of salvation in it. So Anselm.
Verse 3: I Testify to Every Man That He Is a Debtor to Do the Whole Law
I testify (μαρτύρομαι, I attest as a most faithful and truthful witness, indeed as your Apostle I declare) to every man who circumcises himself, that he is a debtor to do the whole law, — because through circumcision he takes care to be enrolled in the militia and Church of the Jews, and willingly undergoes, embraces, and professes that Church and its laws and burdens: for circumcision is the tacit profession of the most burdensome Old Law, just as baptism is the profession of the New Law and of Christianity. So Anselm and others. It is a new argument drawn from the obligation of so many almost insupportable burdens of the law, that is: Why are you circumcised? Why do you take up the Old Laws, so many, so hard, so troublesome? Why do you willingly put on this yoke? For what else is circumcision but the willing assumption and obligation of these laws and burdens?
Verse 4: You Are Made Void of Christ, You Who Are Justified in the Law
4. You are made void (namely, by yourselves, you yourselves have made yourselves void) of Christ, — that is, of the redemption, grace, and salvation of Christ, and of all the efficacy and inflow of His merits, so that He can no longer pour into you and impart anything good, but leaves you, as it were empty, of all His benefits.
You who are justified in the law (that is, you who seek righteousness from circumcision and the other works of the law. Whence explaining he adds), from grace (that is, from the gratuitous justification which you obtained through the faith of Christ and grace in baptism) you have fallen, — because, namely, by distrusting the grace of Christ and having recourse to the law, you have been both ungrateful and injurious, so that on account of this grave and deadly injury, Christ has withdrawn from you the grace and righteousness that had been given.
Note: κατηργήθητε, that is, "you have been made void," is passive, but here it is taken in the Hebrew hitpael conjugation and signification, so that it signifies a passion from the same agent, or a reflex action upon oneself, in which the agent and the patient are the same, that is: You have been made void by yourselves, you yourselves have made yourselves void.
Hence secondly, he says "of Christ"; for as a well covered with rubble is emptied and exhausted of waters: so you, who were before full of Christ and the grace of Christ, have now emptied and exhausted Him from your hearts, and so have lost and cast away every fruit of the passion and redemption of Christ. Again, "you are made void of Christ," because Christ, who before contained you in His Church, has now rejected you from it and as it were emptied you out. Whence the Greek κατηργήθητε can plainly and clearly be translated, "You have been abolished from Christ and from Christianity," that is, you are no longer Christians; and as the Syriac translates, "you have apostatized from Christ." Secondly, by hypallage it could be taken with Vatablus, "you are made void of Christ," that is, Christ has been made void by you, that is: Christ has been made empty to you, that is idle and ineffective, invalid and as it were enervated (for this is what καταργεῖσθαι means, and the Hebrew פרע para corresponds to it); the labor of Christ is for you empty and vain, the passion and redemption of Christ in you is invalid, because it transfuses no force, no efficacy, no fruit, that is, no grace into you; the marks of Christ, the name and dignity of Christian, are vacant in you: therefore either lay these aside, if you covet the law; or, if you wish to keep them, bid farewell to the law: for one of them must necessarily lie void. There is a similar hypallage in this same Greek word at Romans 7:5, as I said there.
Verse 5: For We in Spirit, by Faith, Await the Hope of Righteousness
5. For we in spirit, by faith, await the hope of righteousness. — He proves that the Judaizers, who wish to be justified from the law, have fallen from Christ and Christianity, and are no longer Christians: because "we," he says, who are true and pure Christians, not from the law, circumcision, or other bodily ceremonies, but "in the Spirit," that is, through the Spirit of grace and charity, received "by faith," namely the faith of Christ, "await the hope of righteousness," that is, the hoped-for righteousness.
Note: He calls it "the Spirit by faith," because faith is what, by stirring man to hope, repentance, and prayer, obtains the Spirit of the grace of God by which we are justified. Again, by "the hope of righteousness" some take eternal glory, which we hope to obtain by our righteousness. Secondly and better, by hypallage you may explain "the hope of righteousness" as "the hope-righteousness," that is, the hoped-for, that is: The righteousness which we all hope for, which all of us hold in our wishes, to which all of us pant — that the Jews await from the carnal law, but falsely: but we Christians truly await it, seek it, and receive it from the Spirit, which we received from the faith of Christ.
Verse 6: For in Christ Jesus Neither Circumcision Avails Anything, but Faith Which Works Through Charity
6. For in Christ Jesus (in the doctrine of Christ, the Church, religion, that is, in Christianity, according to Canon 37) neither circumcision avails anything (supply: unto righteousness and the Christian, that is, holy and blessed life), nor uncircumcision (that is, neither Judaism nor heathenism: see how he humbles Judaism, when he equates heathenism to it: so Chrysostom): but faith which works through charity, — that is, not faith alone, nor empty and idle, but faith which is perfected by charity, as the Syriac translates, and which pours itself out in the works of charity, such as was the faith of the penitent Magdalene, washing the feet of Christ with her tears: for faith which does not have charity and works is the faith of demons, not of Christians, says Anselm.
Let the Innovators take note of this, who attribute righteousness to faith alone. Wherefore by this syllogism deduced from this passage, our Campion, the martyr of England (as his Life relates), disputing in prison with the Lutherans, refuted them: The faith which avails before God unto righteousness and the friendship of God, or in which there is force and value of justifying, is that, on the Apostle's testimony, which works through charity, and therefore is plainly united and conjoined to charity; but the faith-alone-justifying which the Lutherans posit is not the faith which works through charity; for it is presupposed by them to be alone, and therefore separated from charity in the value of justifying: therefore the faith-alone-justifying which the Lutherans posit is not the faith which avails before God for the righteousness of God and friendship; and so these two involve a contradiction: that faith is alone, and yet is justifying: for in order that faith justify, it requires charity to be joined to it: therefore it is not alone if it is associated with charity.
Note: Faith does not work through charity as an efficient cause works through its instrument: but as a disposition works through the form to which it disposes: as heat through the form of fire is said to work the kindling of wood, and to set wood on fire and convert it into fire; so faith through charity works good works, namely by producing acts of charity toward God and neighbor, and by commanding acts of other virtues. For charity is, as it were, a form not essential but accidental, which gives to faith and to all good works life, value, and merit in the order to the ultimate end.
For charity to faith and to all the other virtues gives, first, the status of virtue: for where charity is, there vice is exiled, virtue reigns, and has its own state and kingdom; and it bestows on the other virtues this same state and kingdom of its own, so that thereby a man is denominated absolutely endowed with virtue, just, and holy. Secondly, charity confers on them dignity, force, and efficacy of meriting: for it makes a man divine, a friend and son of God, and consequently makes his works divine, worthy of and pleasing to God, so that God promises them eternal rewards. Thirdly, it bestows on them ordering to the ultimate end: for charity directs the whole man and all that is in him to God, and to the love and praise of God. So St. Thomas.
Note secondly, for "works" the Greek is ἐνεργουμένη, which word signifies an inward force, hidden efficacy, and energy, that is: Faith formed by charity, and as it were animated by it as its soul, through a certain intimate force and its own spiritual inflowing works the vital works of the virtues.
Verse 7: You Were Running Well; Who Hindered You?
7. You were running well, — in the Christian life and doctrine, as on a road and racecourse to attain the prize of eternal glory.
Who hindered you (in Greek ἐνέκοψε, that is, broke in upon you in this race, and cut it short; St. Anselm reads: Who has bewitched you?) not to obey (so that, turned aside from the course and bending it back, you might not obey) the truth, — the doctrine of Christ and the Christian doctrine: but should be deceived and run aside to the errors of Judaism? Jerome notes that in ancient codices the words "not to obey the truth" are not found, and without them the sense stands plainly on its own.
Consent to no one, — namely, to a Judaizer, wishing to entice you from the course of the Gospel to Judaism. But note: These words are to be deleted; for the Roman and Greek Bibles delete them.
Verse 8: This Persuasion Is Not From Him Who Calls You
8. This persuasion (by which you have been persuaded, or rather by which the Jews, who hinder you in the course of Christian life, try to persuade you, that the legal observances are necessary for a Christian to salvation) is not from Him who calls you, — that is, it is not from God the Father, who called you to faith, grace, and salvation through Christ; but rather it is from the devil and his ministers. So Anselm.
Verse 9: A Little Leaven Corrupts the Whole Lump
9. A little leaven corrupts the whole lump. — In Greek, μικρὰ ζύμη ὅλον τὸ φύραμα ζυμοῖ, that is, as Jerome's Commentary translates, "a little leaven leavens the whole sprinkling" (that is, the flour sprinkled and kneaded together, which is commonly called dough), that is, fills it with its sourness, infects it, corrupts it, and makes it sour. It is an adage signifying that a small fault in any part pervades and depraves the whole; whence it can be applied to various things. Hence in 1 Corinthians 5:6 he applies it to the fornicator, who as a leaven sprinkled and corrupted the whole Church of the Corinthians by his example and infamy: so here he applies it to the Judaizers, that is: "A little leaven," etc., that is, a few Judaizers and erring men corrupt the whole multitude of your Church, O Galatians: for it is concerning these Judaizers that he treats in the preceding and following verses 7, 8, 10, and 12. So Anselm and Jerome who says: "Arius in Alexandria was one spark, but because it was not immediately quenched, his flame ravaged the whole world: for their speech creeps as cancer in the body, and the scab of one sheep stains the whole flock."
Secondly, this adage can rightly and very aptly be taken of the very doctrine and error of the Judaizers, that is: "A little leaven," etc., that is, a small, indeed a single, error in the faith, such as is this one about observing the legal rites, overthrows the whole substance of faith, and religion itself, and Christianity; or, as more precisely and properly Chrysostom and Theophylact say, the little leaven is circumcision, which alone, if you accept it, will translate you into perfect Judaism, just as leaven, though small, draws the whole lump to itself and transforms it into its own taste and sourness: for he treated of circumcision in verses 2, 3, 6, and I said of it on verse 3, that he who circumcises himself is a debtor of the whole law: for the Judaizers seem chiefly to have persuaded the Galatians to circumcision, as a small and light matter, but to have kept silent about the remaining burdens of the law, which the circumcised undertook and professed. Whence Paul here uncovers them, and says that circumcision is the taking possession of the whole of Judaism, and the corruption of the whole of Christianity, as a tiny leaven infects and corrupts a whole lump.
Verse 10: I Have Confidence in You in the Lord
10. I have confidence in you (that is, concerning you) in the Lord (in the clemency and grace of the Lord, that He Himself will establish you in the faith of Christ, to which He called you, and so it will come about) that you will be of no other mind, — that is, that you will believe nothing other than what you have received from the Lord through my mouth, and have been taught about the law and Christian liberty; you will not follow novice teachers and their new persuasions.
And he who troubles you (by introducing Judaism and new sects, and so disturbing and tearing apart your whole Church), shall bear the judgment, — that is, the punishment and vengeance of God, which God, the most severe avenger of heresies, by His just judgment will inflict on him; it is a metonymy: "judgment," that is, the condemnation and punishment imposed by the judgment and sentence of the judge.
Verse 11: If I Still Preach Circumcision, Why Do I Still Suffer Persecution?
11. And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? The Judaizers were inventing that Paul Judaized among the Jews, and attacked Judaism among the Gentiles: this fiction Paul here refutes: For why, he says, do the Jews persecute me with such bitter hatreds, unless because I publicly teach the contrary, and everywhere I establish the Gospel, and abolish and remove circumcision so far as I can? Again,
Therefore the scandal of the cross is made void (κατήργηται, has been abolished), — that is: If it is so with me, as they themselves invent, then there is no reason for them to be scandalized in the cross of Christ which I preach: for they themselves admit the cross, and wish to be seen as Christians, provided that the law of Moses be admitted along with the cross of Christ. Indeed even pure Jews, who fight only for Judaism, do not so much care about the preaching of the cross, except because by it the law and Judaism are overthrown; so that, if I were to combine and preach the cross together with Judaism, they would not persecute me. But now, since they are thus scandalized and offended at my preaching of the cross of Christ, it is clear that I everywhere openly teach that by the cross of Christ the law has been abolished, and that we are justified from the cross, not from the law, and therefore they are so hostile to me and pursue me everywhere, because, namely, I thus preach the cross of Christ as the one and only way and means to righteousness and salvation, so that I take away the law and circumcision.
Verse 12: I Would That They Who Trouble You Were Cut Off
12. I would that they who trouble you were cut off. — "Cut off," namely, from the Church and your fellowship, lest as leaven they corrupt the whole Church: for so he commanded the fornicator to be cut off from the Church, 1 Corinthians 5:3. This sense is plain, and worthy of apostolic gravity.
Otherwise however Ambrose, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Jerome, Augustine and others say, that is: Would that they were entirely cut off in their genital member, by occasion of which they offend, while they wish to circumcise themselves and you!
You will say: How does the Apostle imprecate evils on the Judaizers? for this is contrary to charity, and a sign of an impatient mind eager for vengeance. "For so detestable," says Jerome, "is the suffering of cutting off, that even one who inflicts it on the unwilling is punished by public laws, and one who castrates himself is held to be infamous."
Jerome answers first, that the Apostle said this as a man out of passion; but God forbid — not only by the Apostle, but also by the Holy Spirit, that this should be the passion of cursing.
Whence Jerome adds another answer, namely, that not out of hatred, but partly out of zeal for righteousness (just as St. Peter cursed Simon Magus in Acts 8:20, and Elisha cursed the boys mocking him in 2 Kings 2:24), partly out of love he imprecated cutting off upon them, namely, that they be punished in that wherein they sin, that is, in their circumcision, and being punished, by this ignominy be corrected and amended.
Thirdly, St. Chrysostom and Theophylact answer that it is not a curse but an urbane jest and a witticism: for the Apostle with festive wit plays upon the circumcised, that is: If they wish, let them not only be circumcised, but also be cut off entirely.
Fourthly, St. Augustine and Anselm think it is not a curse but a blessing, that is: Would that the Judaizers became eunuchs and castrated themselves spiritually by chastity and continence for the kingdom of heaven, so that they might thus cease to think and preach Jewish circumcision, and might begin to think on heaven and heavenly things, and to tend toward them by the law and counsels of Christ. Among these four answers, the second is plainer and more solid.
Finally, from this Origen castrated himself, lest the motions of concupiscence should disturb his chastity: but wrongly, as Chrysostom rightly says. For neither is this the mind of the Apostle, nor are the members of the body, but vices, to be cut off; otherwise it would be lawful to cut off both eyes and ears and the tongue. Add to this, that by this castration the member is cut, not concupiscence: for it often burns, even more in eunuchs than in men, as St. Basil teaches in his book On Virginity, into shameful desires and touch. Whence Sirach 20:9 says: "The lust of a eunuch shall deflower a young girl;" and chapter 30, verse 21: "Seeing with his eyes, and groaning, as a eunuch embracing a virgin and sighing."
Who trouble you. — Οἱ ἀναστατοῦντες, that is, as Chrysostom says, those who dislodge you and shake you from your position, namely from the liberty of the Gospel and of Christianity. Ambrose reads: those who subvert you.
Verse 13: For You Have Been Called Unto Liberty
13. For you have been called unto liberty, — that through the Gospel you may be free from the burdensome and useless slavery of so many legal ceremonies: for this is Christian liberty, which the whole epistle opposes to Jewish slavery.
See therefore how contrary to the mind of the Apostle the Innovators twist these words, when they want Christians to be free from every positive law, that is, not to be bound to obey Prelates and magistrates, and consequently not even parents: for this is against the law of nature and of the Decalogue, which commands father and mother to be honored, and is to overthrow all polity, all commonwealth, all hierarchical order, and all human society and fellowship: since there has never been any nation, however barbarous, which has not had its own magistrates, to whose laws and direction it submitted itself. For all saw that otherwise peace and public tranquillity could not be preserved, nor a nation continue to exist. For if once it be persuaded to men that the law of those set over them, whether civil or ecclesiastical, does not bind in conscience, but only to a penalty to be discharged in the external forum, men will most freely violate the law whenever they think they can do so either secretly or with impunity. Whence Christ, Paul, and the Apostles everywhere command Christians to obey Caesar and magistrates, even unbelieving ones, not only on account of their wrath and vengeance, but also for conscience' sake, Romans 13:5. See Canon 19.
You will say: At least equally, since Christians are free, they ought not to be burdened with so many canons and laws, because otherwise they undergo an equal burden and equal slavery as if they were subject to the many laws of the Old Testament.
I answer that there is no parity: First, because the laws of the Church which concern the people are far fewer; for they are all reduced to the five precepts of the Church: but the canons, which concern the life, manners, and rites of clerics, are more numerous; but no one is forced to undergo them, except one who of his own will wishes to become a cleric; and it is for the Pope and the Bishops to see to it that not too many canons and censures be promulgated, but rather that they be reduced: which many wise men desire, lest too heavy a yoke, such as was that of the Jews, be imposed on clerics, and their consciences be ensnared. Secondly, because the old laws were more burdensome and more difficult, as is evident in so many sacrifices and lustrations. Thirdly, because they were shadows of the laws of the New Testament; therefore these easier ones succeed in their place, and it is more tolerable to serve the truth than the shadows. Fourthly, the old laws were useless, because they did not promote internal piety and righteousness, but contained the people, lest they slip down to idols and idolatry, as the Fathers everywhere teach: but the Ecclesiastical laws are brought forth and ordered for the rousing of the spirit of devotion, piety, and charity, as is evident from the law of fasting, of hearing Mass, of confessing and communicating.
Only (namely, take heed and see to it) do not make liberty (this from Jewish ceremonies) an occasion to the flesh, — that, willing on the occasion of this liberty (as happens and as the Innovators now do) to extend it too far, you may rush freely into all the desires of the flesh, so that the flesh and carnal concupiscence from this liberty may take occasion to lust more, and to fulfill its concupiscences more. Whence the Greek more clearly has τῇ σαρκί, that is, "to the flesh," supply: "give occasion," namely freely to lust after anything and to live carnally, as though it were now free, and stretched by no precepts, but like an untamed horse able to do whatever it pleases. So Jerome.
But through the charity of the Spirit serve one another. — The word "spirit" the Greek manuscripts no longer have, nor St. Augustine, nor Jerome; yet it is rightly added, so that it may be opposed both to the flesh and to the ceremonies of the law.
"When He had taken away the yoke of the law," says Chrysostom, "lest they should leap up, He imposes another yoke on them, namely the yoke of charity, indeed stronger than that one, but much lighter and more pleasant," that is: I do not wish you to serve ceremonies, nor the flesh, but to be free from them, that you may serve one another through the spirit of charity; and from spiritual charity may one succor the other, support him, and serve him. The charity of the spirit is opposed to the charity of the flesh, which the obscene and infamous Adamites and other carnal men boast of and practice.
Chrysostom notes first that the Apostle here touches the root of the evil, namely of error and schism: that the reason why some of the Galatians wished to draw others off to Judaism was arrogance and the zeal to dominate: to that he applies here the remedy, namely charity, that is: "Since while one of you wishes to dominate another, you have been cut apart, serve one another, and so you will be brought back into one: for as fire applied to wax easily softens it, so also the heat of love dissolves all pride and arrogance more vehemently than fire does." Thus far Chrysostom.
Chrysostom notes secondly that it is not said "love," but "serve," because charity makes the free into servants — not by coercion, but by charity, so that he who burns with it from charity may humble himself to render the lowest and most servile services to anyone whatsoever, especially to the afflicted, sick, and poor: which spontaneous and holy servitude is not slavery, but a noble and aspirable liberty for Christians.
Note thirdly: With a fitting transition from the liberty from the law to the liberty from the flesh, he passes to the other part of the epistle, that is, from doctrine to ethics and to the regulating of the morals of the Galatians.
Verse 14: All the Law Is Fulfilled in One Word: You Shall Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
14. All the law (namely, that which concerns the neighbor, by which, as preceded, through charity we serve one another) is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. — This is clear from what was said in Romans 13:8. Otherwise St. Augustine, book 8 On the Trinity, St. Thomas, and Anselm say: All the law is about the charity either of God or of the neighbor: but charity of the neighbor indicates, includes, and presupposes charity of God: for the neighbor is to be loved on account of God; therefore he who loves the neighbor, and fulfills the law which says, "You shall love your neighbor," etc., also loves God and fulfills the law which says, "You shall love the Lord your God," etc.
Verse 15: If You Bite and Devour One Another, Take Heed Lest You Be Consumed
15. If you bite and devour one another (Ambrose, instead of "devour," reads "accuse one another," that is: If you gnaw at and tear one another with detractions, hatreds, calumnies, envies), take heed lest you be consumed by one another. — For as two quarreling dogs bite and finish off one another, so also two envious men, two backbiters, two quarrelsome men ruin one another, indeed they ruin themselves. Truly the Poet says:
Nothing is more just than envy, which forthwith gnaws and tortures its very own author.
And therefore the Sicilian tyrants found no greater torment than envy.
See the properties of envy which I enumerate at Philippians 1:18. Wisely and piously St. Augustine, in his Sentences, number 179: "For a religious man," he says, "it ought to be little not to stir up enmities, or to stir them up by speaking ill, unless he also strives to extinguish them by speaking well."
Verse 16: Walk in the Spirit, and You Shall Not Fulfill the Desires of the Flesh
16. And I say (that is: The epitome, foundation, root, head, and sum of the whole Epistle, and of my writing, is this): Walk in the Spirit, — not in the law, not in the flesh, that is: The root of all your evil is the defect of the Spirit: for if you had Him, you would exclude both the legal and the carnal life.
Walk in the Spirit, — order your life, actions, and morals according to the dictate, instinct, and impulse of the Spirit and of the grace sent and infused into you by the Holy Spirit, who urges and admonishes you to live spiritually, to bring forth spiritual works of the virtues — of prayer, faith, hope, charity, mercy, and piety. This Spirit, copious and vehement, the Apostles and first Christians received at Pentecost, and by obeying Him and fervently cooperating with Him, namely by living angelically, by preaching with fiery charity and zeal, by going about, laboring, suffering, busying themselves to draw all to Christ and salvation, day by day they increased and kindled this Spirit more. Where has that Spirit now gone? Kindle, Lord Jesus, in us that fire which You came to send upon the earth, and which You willed to be vehemently kindled.
Verse 17: The Flesh Lusts Against the Spirit, and the Spirit Against the Flesh
17. The flesh lusts against the Spirit. — Hence the Manichaeans wanted there to be two souls in man: one spiritual and good, given by the good God; the second carnal and evil, from the evil God. Some philosophers want there to be two souls in man, one sensitive, by which he senses, eats, and generates with the beasts; the second rational, by which he reasons and understands with the angels: for the contrary appetites and operations in the same man seem to argue this.
But note first: It is certain that in man there is only one rational soul, but one which at the same time eminently contains the vegetative and sensitive soul. Whence in itself it has the powers, appetites, and functions of both; therefore it is not surprising that in the same soul there are contrary appetites, and that they are borne to contrary objects, and are excited and irritated when those objects are present: because the soul of man is virtually twofold, indeed threefold.
Note secondly: "Flesh" by metonymy signifies concupiscence, which in the flesh, as a potter in his workshop and clay, impresses its ideas and images, stirs up its desires, and forms its causes, as I said in Canon 34.
Note thirdly: This concupiscence resides not only in the sensitive appetite, namely in the concupiscible and irascible, but also in the rational, as St. Augustine teaches in book 8 of the Confessions, chapter 5. For just as in the concupiscible it stirs up the appetite of gluttony and of lust, in the irascible the appetite of envy, anger, and quarrel; so in the rational, that is in the will and reason, concupiscence arouses the appetite for excellence, for curiosity, for vain knowledge: for all the powers were infected by original sin with this leaven of concupiscence; yet they are called flesh, or carnal appetite, by synecdoche from the principal part, because this is the chief, most frequent, and most vehement appetite in man, which almost always stirs up in him the motions of carnal concupiscence. Hence the works of the flesh, that is, of concupiscence, the Apostle here calls not only fornication, drunkenness, revellings, which are truly carnal works of the sensitive and carnal appetite; but also idolatry, envies, etc., which are spiritual works, that is, mental works of the rational appetite: these, I say, he calls works of the flesh, that is, of concupiscence, which resides not in the sensitive but in the rational appetite.
Note fourthly: "The flesh lusts against the spirit," because it lusts after carnal things; "and the spirit against the flesh," because it desires spiritual, heavenly, and eternal goods. This war, or rather duel, the flesh on one side and the spirit on the other wage in the soul: whence the Apostle marshals the line and soldiers of each commander, and sets them against each other; and first the flesh, saying: "The works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness," etc. Then he draws up the line of the spirit, adding: "But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace." See this war graphically described by Prudentius in the Psychomachia. The same is vividly portrayed in himself by St. Augustine, Confessions Book VIII, ch. 11. Hear also Cassian on it, Conference 4, ch. 11: "The flesh," he says, "delights in luxuries and lust: the spirit does not even acquiesce in natural desires. The former lusts to be sated with sleep, to be filled with food; the latter is so fattened by vigils and fasts that it scarcely wishes to admit even the necessary use of life, sleep and food. The former desires to abound in universal supplies; the latter is not even content to have the daily ration of a small loaf. The former seeks to shine with baths, and to be daily surrounded by crowds of flatterers; the latter rejoices in the squalor of filth and the desolation of the inaccessible desert. The former is cherished by honors and praises; the latter delights in persecutions and injuries inflicted on it." See also Thomas à Kempis in his golden little book On the Imitation of Christ, Book III, ch. 54, where with simple style but skillfully and solidly he sets the motions of nature and grace, that is, of flesh and spirit, against each other.
Hence the Abbot Poemenius rightly said in the Lives of the Fathers, Book VII, ch. 25: "Concupiscence, that is to say evil will, is a demon attacking us;" or, as Abbot Achilles says in the same place, "it is the handle of the demon."
Finally, Augustine thinks this duel is to be understood and waged in a sinner under the law, not constituted under grace: but he retracts this in Book I of the Retractations, ch. 24: for it is plain that this duel, this struggle, exists even in the saints, and the greater and more sensible the more they strive to live spiritually and resist the flesh. Hence the same Augustine, sermon 43 On the Words of the Lord: "The Spirit," he says, "lusts against the flesh, in good men, not in evil ones, who have not the Spirit of God against whom the flesh may lust." But excellently the same writer, on Psalm 75: "And His place was made in peace," describes the manner of this struggle: "There is declared to you," he says, "a war not only against the suggestions of the devil, but against yourself. How against yourself? against your evil habit, and against the oldness of your evil life, which drags you to the customary practice and is restrained from the new; for a certain new life is announced to you, and you are old; you are suspended by the joy of the new, weighed down by the burden of the old: there begins to be war for you against you; but from that side from which you are displeasing to yourself, you are joined to God; and from that side by which you are now joined to God, you will be fit to conquer yourself, because He is with you who overcomes all. Mark what the Apostle says: With the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Whence with the mind? because your evil life displeases you. Whence with the flesh? because there are no lack of suggestions, and evil delights: but from the fact that you are joined to God in mind, you conquer what in you does not wish to follow (namely your reluctant flesh and concupiscence). For you have advanced in part, and in part you lag behind. Drag yourself to Him who lifts you up; weighed down by a certain burden of oldness, cry out and say: Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death, from him by whom I am weighed down? for the body which is corrupted weighs down the soul." Then he describes the cause, end, and manner of victory of this struggle thus: "Why then is it permitted that you contend long against yourself, until all evil desires be swallowed up? that you may understand your punishment is in yourself. Within you, from yourself, is your scourge; your quarrel becomes your own. Thus is vengeance taken on the rebel against God, that he himself becomes war to himself who would not have peace with God. But hold your limbs against your evil concupiscences: anger has risen, do you, joined to God, hold your hand. It [anger] could rise, but found no arms. With your anger is the assault, with you are the arms, the assault becomes unarmed, and it learns now not to rise, since it rose in vain." See what was said on Romans VII, at the end.
For these are contrary one to another, so that you do not the things that you would. — For you would wish not to lust, not to feel the motions of anger, gluttony, lust, not to be hindered by them from prompt and perfect charity, temperance, chastity, prayer; and yet this you do not do, nor can do in this life. Again, you would wish to do many heroic works of virtue fervently and eagerly, but often you cannot; because the flesh resists too much and struggles back. Beautifully Anselm says: "The concupiscences do not permit you to fulfill what you will; do not you also permit them to fulfill what they will: and so neither you nor they will do what you will. Although therefore concupiscences arise in us, yet they are not perfected, because you do not consent to them: so also, although good works of the spirit are done, yet they are not perfected, because without pain, struggle, and resistance of concupiscence, you cannot do them fully, joyfully, and perfectly." These things and more says Anselm.
Verse 18: If You Are Led by the Spirit, You Are Not Under the Law
18. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. — Anticipation: the Galatians could object: You release us from the old law, and behold you subject us to a heavier servitude, since you make us liable to perpetual concupiscence and its rebellion, that we should groan under it, and consequently under the law which prohibits these motions of concupiscence. The Apostle answers: "If you are led by the Spirit," if you follow the instinct, leading, and impulse of the Spirit and grace, you are not under concupiscence, but you rule it, and consequently you are not under the law: because it is not by the constraint of the law, or fear of the penalty which the law threatens and intends for transgressors, but spontaneously and by your own movement and spirit, that you do what the law commands, and avoid and restrain the motions of concupiscence which the law prohibits.
You are not under the law — namely as compelling and terrifying, and much less are you under the law as accusing and condemning: yet you are under the law as obliging, but in such a way that spontaneously and liberally from the spirit you do what the law commands. Hence rather you seem to be outside, or above, the law; and not to be under the law, but under the Spirit. Whence, having enumerated the fruits of the Spirit, he adds: "Against such there is no law." So Anselm and Theophylact.
Verse 19: The Works of the Flesh Are Manifest
19. The works of the flesh are manifest. — That is, the works and acts to which the flesh, that is concupiscence, urges, as I said on verse 17.
Fornication. — The Greek adds μοιχεία, πορνεία, adultery, fornication; and so Ambrose reads. On the individual works of the flesh, see Jerome, Anselm, and St. Thomas.
Uncleanness. — It is effeminacy, by which the soft pollute and contaminate themselves against nature.
Impudicity. — Gestures, kisses, immodest touches. To this now nothing corresponds in the Greek.
Luxury. — Ἀσέλγεια, lasciviousness, any other more wanton lust, and, as Jerome says, extraordinary; who adds: "Even the works of marriage themselves, if they are not done modestly and honorably, and as it were under God's eyes, that only the bearing of children may be served, the Apostle named uncleanness and luxury." This take to mean — if the immodesty and lust be mortal, that is, if in the conjugal act they use another vessel and member than that which nature destined for generation, or if outside the natural vessel they pour out the seed, or expose themselves to the danger of effusion; for then spouses sin with mortal lust, which excludes them from the kingdom of heaven; otherwise lust in marriage is generally only venial.
20. Service of idols. — In Greek εἰδωλολατρεία, idolatry; therefore servitus (service) is the same as the worship of idols. So the Syriac.
Sects. — The Greek αἱρέσεις, heresies, that is, choices, when someone abandoning the common doctrine of the Church chooses a new dogma, so as to prefer in religion his own opinion and choice rather than to follow the tradition of his elders, which is great rashness and presumption.
Wraths. — Anger is the appetite for vengeance: if you desire, wish, or prepare grave vengeance and grave evil for the one with whom you are angry, the anger is deadly, and will exclude you from the kingdom of heaven; but not, if the anger is only venial, that is, if it is only an inflammation of the mind, an appetite for vengeance and evil, but slight. The Apostle therefore takes wrath, strife, dissensions, etc., in their perfect act and degree: for then they exclude a man from the kingdom of heaven, as he says in the following verse.
Verse 21: They Who Do Such Things Shall Not Obtain the Kingdom of God
21. Revellings. — You will say: Therefore to revel, that is, to feast and banquet at unseasonable times, is a mortal sin, which excludes from the kingdom of God, as the Apostle says.
I answer firstly: Hence from the Apostle some judge that both gluttony in eating and drunkenness in drinking are mortal sin, not only if it takes away reason, but also if there is grave gorging and gluttony. It is proved firstly, because the rich Epulo was damned, not because he was drunk, but because he feasted splendidly every day. Secondly, because Isaiah 5:22, threatens woe, that is eternal damnation, to those who are mighty in drinking. Thirdly, because the gorging on food can be so great that it is exceedingly base and disformed from reason, and more than bestial; if therefore pollution is a mortal sin, which yet does not deprive of reason, why is gorging not so, which seems equally disformed from reason?
But the common opinion of the Doctors is milder, and teaches that revelry and excess in eating is not a mortal sin, unless one gravely injures his health and incurs a serious illness; or unless one voluntarily so gorges himself that he is forced to vomit (which itself some still assert is not a mortal sin), or certainly if, full and replete, he vomits with the intent and aim of gorging himself again: for this is exceedingly base and bestial. Hence with the common opinion of these I answer, and
I say firstly: For comessationes the Greek has κῶμοι, that is, the drunken and lascivious sayings and doings of drunkards, such as base songs, dances, words, touches, kisses, insults. Whence Comus in Philostratus is called Bacchus, and κωμάζειν is to revel, or, as others would have it said, comassari, and to be wanton. So Theophylact, Photius, Hesychius and the Greek lexicons, and Jerome favors this, as does Anselm: "Revellings," he says, "that is, dishonorable and luxurious banquets." See what is said on Romans 13:13.
Secondly, if with the Latins you prefer to understand "revellings" here in their proper and sole sense, take them as completed, that is, long and nocturnal banquets, in which they so gorge themselves that they do not leave the table until they have overwhelmed both mind and body with food and drink, as some sufficiently well-known peoples do; of whom Isaiah, ch. 28, v. 8: "All their tables are full of vomit;" for these squander reason, time, and often chastity and health, and consequently sin mortally. Therefore, as in the preceding the Apostle subjoined strifes to wrath as the perfection of wrath, and sects to dissensions, murders to envy: so also to drunkenness he subjoins revelling, as it were the perfection of drunkenness, concerning which Proverbs ch. 23, v. 20: "Be not in the feasts of drinkers, nor in their revellings."
To the first I reply that to feast splendidly is in itself only venial; but, if the excess is to the point of vomiting and crapulence, it is mortal, as I have said. Secondly, that it is often per accidens mortal, because it is joined with drunkenness, lust, detraction, pride, lack of mercy, contempt of the poor and others; as the rich Epulo neglected Lazarus, who was in grave need.
To the second I reply in the same way. Add that Isaiah explains himself when he adds: "Woe to you who are mighty to drink wine, and strong men to mix drunkenness," or, as it is in Hebrew, to mix sicera, that is, various intoxicants, e.g. various strong wines, which when mixed inebriate more; for the latter hemistich after the manner of the Hebrews explains the former; therefore it is the same to be mighty to drink wine as to be strong to mix drunkenness: such are many, who are zealous to inebriate themselves and their fellow-guests, so that, unless they leave the banquet drunk and out of their wits, neither does the host think he has received the guests well, nor do the guests think themselves well received: which sense and opinion is brutish, not of men but of swine.
To the third: Gluttony is a base thing in itself, just as the eliminations of waste through the nose, mouth, and bowel are base in man: but nevertheless it is not so contrary to the good of man and to reason that it should be considered as gravely opposing it, unless it deprives man of reason, or brings on crapulence or illness, as I have already said. It is otherwise with pollution: for the effusion of seed has been ordained and permitted by nature and by God only for the production of offspring, and therefore is enclosed within the bounds and laws of marriage. For otherwise offspring could not be duly conceived and brought up, and therefore those who pour out the seed outside the use of marriage do an exceedingly base thing, and one exceedingly disformed from reason, nature, and God's ordinance, and therefore sin mortally.
They shall not obtain the kingdom of God. — βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐ κληρονομήσουσιν, they shall not inherit the kingdom of God; or, as Ambrose has it, they shall not obtain the inheritance of the kingdom of God.
Verse 22: But the Fruit of the Spirit Is Charity, Joy, Peace
22. But the fruit of the Spirit is: charity, joy, — He opposes to the works of the flesh, that is of concupiscence, the "fruits," that is the works, "of the Spirit," which namely proceed from the spirit of grace, and which the Holy Spirit through His grace begets and produces in us, that by them we may merit and obtain the kingdom of God, from which the works of the flesh exclude their doers.
Note, that these fruits are habits, or rather acts (for fructus signifies act and work), most diverse, of various virtues or of properties and effects which virtues bring forth in the soul, such as joy, peace, etc. Secondly, not all fruits of the Spirit are numbered here (for all virtues are fruits of the spirit and of grace, and of the Holy Spirit Himself); but only some more commonly conspicuous, and opposed to the works of the flesh just enumerated. Whence thirdly, Anselm and Theophylact note that charity is set as the first fruit of the Spirit, because it is the first and most noble and the parent of the rest: for the rest that follow are fruits of charity.
Joy — which arises from a serene, holy conscience, purged from sins, vices, and disturbances of mind; "for a secure mind is like a continual feast." And Cyprian, in his book On Discipline and the Good of Modesty: "To have conquered pleasure," he says, "is the greatest pleasure: for no victory is greater than that which is borne off from desires." On the contrary, the fruit of the flesh and of concupiscence is pain and sadness. For, as Chrysostom teaches, hom. 13 on Acts: "Impure pleasure is like the pleasure with which the scabby are affected when they scratch themselves. For upon this pleasure, which is brief, there follows a longer pain and trouble."
Peace — by which a tranquil mind is disturbed by no passions, says Jerome. For the holy soul, perceiving itself freed from the terror of sins and punishments, to be in grace and in friendship with God, enjoys a wondrous peace and tranquillity of mind, and pours it forth upon those near, that it may cultivate peace with all so far as it can. This peace is so great a good that it surpasses all understanding, says the Apostle Philippians 4:7; and so even if God had placed no other reward upon virtue than this peace, it would be a most worthy prize that would deservedly stir up all to undertake even the most arduous labors of virtue, that they might enjoy this peace.
Patience. — That you may have peace and preserve it with others, patience is necessary, and that you may bear prudently and patiently any adversities, and especially the dispositions of others often uncouth and disformed from yours, particularly the choleric and the haughty. For patientia the Greek has μακροθυμία, that is longanimity, or, as Ambrose, gentleness; so that "patience" properly is not now in the Greek.
Benignity, — χρηστότης, sweet and benign disposition, that in speaking, answering, doing good, you show yourself benign. For someone can be good and beneficent, who is yet not benign, whose nature and manner of acting is rougher, more rustic, harsher: against which benignity does battle, that it may bend nature and conversation to courtesy, civility, and sweetness of words and manners. This is a great indication of sanctity and of the Holy Spirit, who, as it is said in Wisdom 7:22, is holy, sweet, benign, humane; and therefore the common people measure a man's holiness by his benignity, and wish to be drawn, captured, swayed, and ruled by it.
Goodness. — In Greek ἀγαθωσύνη, that is, a good and benevolent disposition for doing good to one's neighbor. "Goodness" therefore is the same as beneficence, which Zeno defines thus, says Jerome: "Goodness is a virtue which profits, or a virtue from which utility arises, or an effect which is the source of utilities." This is an evident mark of the Holy Spirit, and it was conspicuous in Christ. "You know," says Peter, Acts 10:38, "Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him." If you would have the Spirit of Christ, do evil to no one, do good to all.
Verse 23: Meekness, Faith, Modesty, Continence, Chastity; Against Such There Is No Law
23. Meekness. — "One is called meek (mansuetus)," says Anselm, "as it were accustomed to the hand (manu assuetus), tractable, ductile, flexible; accustomed to be handled, led, to suffer, to do, to bear." It is opposed to anger and animosity, which wishes to suffer nothing, to bear the yoke or manners of no one, but at once to avenge itself, indeed to return blows for words.
Faith. — It is a Theological virtue, says Jerome, which is opposed to heresy, by which we believe all things to be believed, even though they exceed nature, sense, and the grasp of reason: but this faith is not so much a fruit as the root and principle of spirit and grace. Hence secondly, and more aptly, Anselm: "Faith," he says, "is fidelity and veracity in promises," which is opposed to fraud and lying: for the Holy Spirit, as is said in Wisdom 7:23, is "stable, certain, secure," and consequently faithful, and makes His own stable, truthful, faithful, that is, like Himself. Thirdly, not improbably with some fides can be taken as the same as credulity, by which someone easily and simply believes his neighbor, and does not suspect him of deceiving or lying. For so, in 1 Corinthians 13, it is said: "Charity believes all things," because it is not suspicious. For this faith and candid simplicity is an indication of a candid, dovelike, and holy mind, and consequently of the Holy Spirit.
Modesty. — It is a virtue which sets a measure and moderates all exterior actions, namely gait, dress, speech, laughter, play, and rightly composes the whole man exteriorly, and arises from the interior moderation of mind and passions. For, as Ambrose says, Book I Of Offices, 18: "From exterior acts the man of our heart, hidden, is judged either lighter, or more boastful, or more turbulent, or more grave, or more constant, and purer and more mature." And as the Wise Man, Sirach 19:27: "The clothing of the body, and the laughter of the teeth, and the gait of a man tell of him." Hence rightly St. Augustine prescribes in his Rule 3: "In all your movements let nothing be done that may offend any one's sight, [but] that which befits your sanctity."
Continence — [is] temperance, as Vatablus translates. Secondly, as Anselm, continence from venery and lust, and differs from chastity: because "continence," says Anselm, "is in struggle, chastity in peace." For it is not called chastity but continence where the adversity of pleasure still resists it. Continence therefore is incipient and militant and battling chastity. Thirdly and better, "continence," according to Aristotle, is a general virtue, or rather a complex of virtues, by which the continent person reins in and restrains all the allurements and temptations of vices. "Continence," says Jerome, "we must take not only with respect to chastity, but also in food and drink: in anger too and the vexation of the mind, and the desire to detract; between modesty and continence the difference is this, that modesty is in perfect men and of consummate virtue, of whom the Savior says: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth; and of Himself: Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart. But continence is indeed on the way of virtue, but has not yet reached the goal: because desires still are born in the thinking of him who restrains himself, and pollute the principal of the mind, although they do not overcome nor draw the thinker to action: not only in desires and concupiscence is continence necessary, but also in the three remaining perturbations, namely pain, joy, and fear."
Note: The Greek here, as elsewhere, is curtailed: for in the Greek there are missing "patience, modesty, chastity." Whence the Greek number only nine fruits, as do also Augustine and Jerome. On these fruits and virtues Augustine treats in tract. 78 on John, and St. Thomas, in II-II, where he treats of individual virtues.
Against such things there is no law, — there is no law which accuses, restrains, or condemns these fruits of the Spirit and those who observe them; and so "if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law," as I said on verse 18, for it looks back and returns to that.
Verse 24: They Who Are Christ's Have Crucified Their Flesh With Its Vices and Concupiscences
24. They who are Christ's have crucified their flesh with its vices and concupiscences. — It is the summing-up of the preceding antithesis, or war, which is between the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit, as if to say: These are the soldiers, these the lines, these the works both of the flesh and of the spirit; but he who is a soldier of Christ, and is moved, lives, and wars by His Spirit, has crucified his flesh with its vices and concupiscences, that is, he chastises and crucifies not only the vices and concupiscences, but the corrupted flesh itself, as it were the tinder of concupiscences, by fasts, hair shirts, labors, penances. So Anselm.
Secondly and better, "flesh" does not properly mean flesh, that is body, but signifies the concupiscence residing in the flesh; for thus he takes flesh in verse 17 and following, as if to say: Those who are moved by the Spirit of Christ, these have crucified and "restrained," says St. Augustine, "with that chaste fear which endures unto the age of the age, by which we are wary of offending Him whom we love with all our heart, soul, and mind."
Note: Concupiscence is as it were the soul; the vices are as it were its powers; the concupiscences are its acts. These Christians crucify, that is, restrain and mortify with pain after the manner of Christ crucified, who therefore was mortified upon the cross with the highest pain. For he alludes to the crucified flesh of Christ as the idea and exemplar of mortification.
Note secondly: The Saints crucify and restrain these vices, first, by the fear of hell and of God; second, by reason and by constancy and fortitude of will, and a firm purpose of pleasing God; third, by guarding the eyes and the senses; fourth, by prayers; fifth, by fasts, vigils, and other austerities.
Verse 25: If We Live by the Spirit, Let Us Also Walk by the Spirit
25. If we live by the Spirit, — if we have an interior life and soul of grace, of the spirit, and of justice.
Let us also walk by the Spirit, — let us walk, converse, act, work according to the dictate and leading of the Spirit and grace. For the Greek στοιχῶμεν signifies to walk in a certain order, sequence, and norm, concerning which I spoke at ch. 4, v. 23. Otherwise Chrysostom and Theophylact, as if to say: Let us walk in the order, law, and norm of the Spirit of Christ and of Christianity; let us not deflect outside this order to the law, to Judaism, let us not put forth a foot.
Verse 26: Let Us Not Be Made Desirous of Vain Glory, Provoking One Another
26. Let us not be made desirous of vain glory, — κενόδοξοι, that is, desirous of empty or vain glory. For he who seeks praise among men seeks empty, that is hollow, praise: because this glory is like a bubble swollen and inflated with wind and turgid, but empty and hollow, which has nothing of substance, solidity, and reality with which to fill and satisfy man's mind and appetite: for full and solid glory, which fills the mind, is only with God. "Desirous of full glory," says Jerome, "are they who desire the glory of God, and praise worthy of virtue," namely to be commended and praised by God.
Provoking one another — to strifes, quarrels, brawls, fights: for these, as also envy, are stirred up by the desire of glory and pre-eminence, when, for example, Pompey does not endure an equal, Caesar does not endure a superior.