Galatians 5:26

Galatians 5:26. Let us not become vainglorious, etc. This is the opposite of humility (Philippians 2:3). ‘St. Paul works round again to the subject of Galatians 5:15, and repeats his warning. It is clear that something had occurred which alarmed him on this point' (Lightfoot). Vanity and quarrelsomeness, self-exaltation, and self-seeking were among the darling sins of the Gauls. But as Luther says, ‘love of vainglory is a common vice all the world over in all conditions. In the smallest village there are some peasants who deem themselves wiser and better than the rest, and like to be looked up to. But nowhere is this vice so harmful as in the officers of the church.' Calvin remarks: ‘It is not lawful for us to glory but in God alone. Every other kind of glorying is pure vanity. Mutual provocations and envyings are the daughters of ambition.' Galatians 5:26 is the connecting link between ch. 5 and ch. 6.