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Document Details : Title: The Right Things You Want to Do Subtitle: A Note on Galatians 5,17d Author(s): LAMBRECHT, Jan Journal: Biblica Volume: 79 Issue: 4 Date: 1998 Pages: 515-524 DOI: 10.2143/BIB.79.4.3200636 Abstract : We can assume that the Spirit-filled Christians in Galatia want to do the right things. To be sure, they are in need of admonition and exhortation. In a realistic way Paul reminds them of their somewhat fragile condition. He points to the eschatological tension between the 'already' and the 'not yet', between the indicative and the imperative. They are still in the body, yet they live in this world. Some of these Gentile Christians are attracted to the 'works of the law'. But, as Paul has been arguing at great length in this letter, that is not a solution. On the contrary, the Spirit alone constitutes the really 'empowering presence'. Therefore, 'if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit' (v. 25). It would seem that Gal 5,17, properly understood, fits very well into this context of admonition. |
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