Galatians 5:17

ταῦτα γὰρ א*BD*G latt. ταῦτα δὲ אcACDcKLP etc. syrHarcl.; ταῦτα οὖν syrpesh. Origint.

17. ἡ γὰρ σὰρξ. γάρ introduces the reason for the triumph over the flesh (Galatians 5:16): the flesh lusts against the spirit, but, thank God, the reverse is also true! The verse is a very brief summary of the experience described in Romans 7:17-25. By “the flesh” St Paul here means the propensity to evil, which makes itself felt through the physical nature.

ἐπιθυμεῖ. In this clause with a bad connotation, but in the next it is not only understood but understood in a good sense. Cf. of Christ, Luke 22:15; of angels, 1 Peter 1:12. The opposition between flesh and spirit lies not only in act but primarily in aim and desire.

κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος. The article is generic as with ἡ σάρξ. There is no more thought of the Holy Ghost than in Galatians 5:16.

τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα κατὰ τῆς σαρκός. In glad contrast to the preceding clause.

ταῦτα γὰρ�. Probably a parenthesis; vide infra. γάρ (see notes on Textual Criticism) gives the reason for the activity of the contradictory desires of the flesh and the spirit. It lies in the fundamental enmity that they have to each other. ἀντίκειται “are adversaries.” In usage stronger than “are contrary.” Cf. the participle 1 Corinthians 16:9; Philippians 1:28; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 Timothy 5:14; cf. Job 13:25; Zechariah 3:1. See Augustine’s fine remarks in his Confessions VIII. 5 and 9.

ἵνα μὴ, “in order that ye may not” etc. To be taken closely with τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα κατὰ τῆς σαρκός. See below for the interpretation of ἵν α here as ecbatic, “so that,” 1 Thessalonians 5:4 and elsewhere, and on ecbatic ἵν α generally see Moulton, Proleg., 1906, pp. 206 sqq. Theodoret takes the clause as purely imperative, μή τοῖς�, ἀντὶ τοῦ, περιγίνεσθε τούτων ἔχοντες συνεργὸν τὴν χάριν τοῦ πνεύματος. This use of ἵνα though found elsewhere and especially in later Greek (see Moulton, Proleg., 1906, pp. 176 sqq.), is very doubtful in the N.T. at all, and is extremely unnatural in this passage.

ἃ ἐὰν θἑλητε ταῦτα ποιῆτε. ἐάν for ἄν, Galatians 5:10 note. θέλητε in accordance with the evil promptings of the flesh.

There are, however, two other ways of understanding this verse which are worthy of mention.
(1) Taking ταῦτα … ἀντίκειται not as a parenthesis, but closely with the following clause, and giving θέλητε the widest possible meaning: “For these are adversaries to each other in order that ye may not do what ye wish, whether good or ill,” with no doubt special thought of ill. But the Apostle would not take much interest in the fact that the flesh hinders the wish for good things without saying more about it. We should expect, if this interpretation were right, to see a further remark about the difficulty of doing right.

Deissmann (Licht vom Osten, p. 235) illustrates this passage from words frequently found in the manumission of slaves “doing what he will” (ποιῶν ὅ κα θέλῃ), and thinks that St Paul here has such a clause in mind when he warns us against returning to slavery under the Law (cf. Galatians 5:18).

(2) Taking ἵνα not as telic but as ecbatic “so that ye cannot do the things that ye would,” A.V. So Theodore τὸ γὰρ ἵ ν α οὐκ ἐπὶ αἰτίας εἶπεν, ἀλλʼ ὡς� (non ut in causando illud dixit, sed quasi consequens). In this case it may be

(a) Still a summons to holiness, so Theodore, οὐδὲ ἡμῖν ἔξεστιν ποιεῖν ἅπερ βουλόμεθα, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ δυνατὸν ἐν ἐκείνοις ὄντας τὰ τῆς θνητότητος πράττειν. Compare also his words on Galatians 5:25 “ita ut neque passio neque concupiscentia locum in nobis ullum possit habere. migravimus enim in futuram illam vitam per regenerationem Spiritus.”

(b) A palliative against despair at failure, “the things that ye would “being good things. But this, perhaps the usual interpretation among English readers, is quite out of accord with the confident note of the whole passage. Luther feels this and has to add a summons to courage: “When I was a monk, I thought by and by that I was utterly cast away, if at any time I felt the lust of the flesh: I should not have so miserably tormented myself, but should have thought and said to myself as now commonly I do: Martin, thou shalt not utterly be without sin, for thou hast flesh: thou shalt therefore feel the battle thereof: according to that saying of Paul: The flesh resisteth the Spirit. Despair not therefore, but resist it strongly, and fulfil not the lust thereof. Thus doing thou art not under the law” (p. 262 ab).