Galatians 5:23

ἐγκράτεια. The “western” authorities D*G with some inferior MSS. of the Vulgate, the Latin translations of Irenaeus and Origen, with Cyprian and Ambrosiaster, add ἁγνεία.

23. πραΰτης, “meekness,” here towards men, Colossians 3:12 note.

ἐγκράτεια, Acts 24:25; 2 Peter 1:6 bis[150]; cf. ἐγκρατεύομαι 1 Corinthians 7:9; 1 Corinthians 9:25[151]; ἐγκρατής, Titus 1:8[152]; “self-mastery,” especially against sensual pleasures. It is the opposite of ἀκρασία 1 Corinthians 7:5. See notes on Textual Criticism.

[150] Is affixed to a word it means that all the passages are mentioned where that word occurs in the New Testament.
[151] Is affixed to a word it means that all the passages are mentioned where that word occurs in the New Testament.
[152] Is affixed to a word it means that all the passages are mentioned where that word occurs in the New Testament.

The last clause of this verse is difficult. It is frequently interpreted as a platitude, that the Law is not against the good qualities named in Galatians 5:22 : cf. 1 Timothy 1:9. But St Paul must mean more than this, and is in fact recalling Galatians 5:18.

κατὰ τῶν τοιούτων. (1) Hardly masc. in contrast to πράσσοντες, Galatians 5:21, cf. also Galatians 5:24, as though Law, or the Law, loses its power, or claim, over the godly: cf. Romans 8:31-34; Colossians 2:14. (2) But neuter in contrast to τὰ τοιαῦτα, Galatians 5:21. Law, or the Law, has no power to prevent the development of these qualities, as it did by “causing the offence to abound,” Romans 5:20; cf. Romans 7:9-12, for they are produced by the Spirit.

οὐκ ἔστιν νόμος. That νόμος may in certain cases mean “the Law” has been shown at Galatians 2:16, but it is questionable whether this is so here. It is on the whole safer to be content with the translation “there is no law,” i.e. there is nothing having the force of law (even in its highest example the Law of Moses).

St Paul, that is to say, having in earlier parts of the Epistle shown the powerlessness of the Law to produce good, and even the hindrance that it was in attaining righteousness (Galatians 2:21), now says that the preceding good qualities are produced in us as the fruit of the Spirit in spite of all the hindrances that the Law, or any other law, can make.