Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 5:18
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
But if ye be led of the Spirit – If you submit to the teachings and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Ye are not under the law – You are under a different dispensation – the dispensation of the Spirit. You are free from the restraints and control of the Mosaic law, and are under the control of the Spirit of God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gal 5:18
But if ye be led of the Spirit ye are not under the law.
The guidance of the Spirit
1. The Spirit is a person. The personality of the Spirit is a doctrine freely confessed by us in our creed, but often denied by us in thought, converse, prayers. He comes to have with us only the indefiniteness of an impulse and the impersonalness of an influence, with none of that substantive being, intelligence, and will that constitutes the Holy Spirit a true and complete personality.
2. The Spirit is in some way the continuance to us, under altered conditions, of that same Jesus, who once walked among men in visible form, and in the utterance of tones that were audible. In a way He is the Sons messenger; and so, in letting ourselves be actuated by the Spirit, we are living still under the same personal regime as did the disciples who walked in the companionship of Jesus. (Chas. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
Christian freedom
The text has its affirmative and also its negative element. In neglecting the latter, and addressing ourselves (as is more satisfactory) only to its affirmative and constructive aspect, it needs to be accepted as our basal principle, that through whatever stages Gods government passes, Gods government never ceases, and that changes of dispensation are not breaks in Divine authority, but alterations simply in Gods method of administering His authority. This principle is distinctly implied in the text. The Jew as such is under the law, amenable to Gods authority as exercised through Moses: the Christian as a Christian is also under a kind of law, amenable to Gods authority as exercised through the Son, the Holy Spirit–sovereignty, Divine sovereignty, carrying its exercise through both dispensations in one uninterrupted continuity without hint of break or interregnum. Now the conception we are likely to have of Christianity is of a system under which there is larger liberty enjoyed than under the system of Moses; and this conception, provided only we associate with the word liberty its true notion, is justified, and justified by the Scripture (Joh 8:32-33; Joh 8:36; 1Co 7:22; 2Co 3:17). But I question if we are all of us, or even most of us, quite careful or accurate in the notion we have of the thing called freedom. Freedom is not exemption from government; rather is freedom a form of government. Anarchy, lawlessness, is the opposite of government; freedom is a special variety of government. Political freedom is civil authority vested in a particular way. Christian freedom is Divine authority vested in a particular way; so that in coming out from the bondage of a Jew into the freedom of a Christian, there is no inquiry to be had respecting the abatement of authority, but only respecting the new point at which authority is vested and the new manner in which it is exercised. (Chas. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
Freedom only for the spiritual
If A man may live in an age of gospel, but it does not follow from that that he lives under the administration of the gospel. Christ has come into the world, but it does not follow that He has come into my heart and set up His throne there. The Holy Spirit is abroad in society, and there are thousands and hundreds of thousands that are being led by that Spirit. It does not follow from that, that I am being led by it. If I am led by it, I am not under the law; if I am not led by it, of course I am under the law. I have not escaped the pressure of Divine authority at one point until I have first put myself under the pressure of Divine authority at another point. We read in the Book of Numbers that a man gathered sticks on the Sabbath, and he was stoned at the Lords command; and our thought perhaps is that God used to be very particular. We read in the book of Joshua that Achan, the son of Zerah, was guilty of embezzlement, and that at the Lords command he and his sons and his daughters were stoned with stones and burned with fire; and our thought perhaps is that the Lord used to be very particular. He used to be particular to be obeyed. There is so much in the New Testament respecting love, liberty, and the abolition of old ordinances, that we allow ourselves sometimes to be betrayed into supposing that the old dispensation was the dispensation of mans submission to God, and that the new dispensation is the dispensation of Gods submission to man; that the gospel is a kind of giving up on Gods part, a sort of confession that He is not disposed to be particular about little things any more, and that it hardly avails Him to attempt to be particular about little things. Now, this conception of the gospel as an economy of Divine relaxation, Divine letting down, Divine giving up, is one that yields bitter fruit; it makes the gospel contemptible by making it irresolute Calvary proves that the truth is exactly the opposite of such a notion as this–that God thinks so much of His own sovereignty that He would rather have Divine blood shed than not have you and me respect that sovereignty and come into terms of gentle allegiance to it . The man who discards the punctilious observance of Gods outward statutes because he lives in an age of gospel, without having first submitted himself to the governance of an inward Christ, and to the laws written by the Spirit upon the fleshly tables of the heart, has detached himself from God at one point, without having first attached himself to God at another point. (Chas. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
Superiority of spiritual to legal guidance
The old administration was an administration of exterior lines that men could see: the new administration is an administration of interior personal impulses that men can feel. God drew the lines: God gives the impulses. Moses was the agency then: Christ is the agency now; one government underlying both, one sovereign administrative in both. In one case it was government by communicated statute; in the other it is government by immanent leadings. In one the law was a thing distinct from us, and laid down for us to run upon, like railroad-irons spiked and bedded before a locomotive; in the other the impulse is a thing inwardly contained and inseparable from us, in a certain way like the instinct of a bird guiding it southward at the approach of winter. In various ways might this distinction between government by applied constraint and government by contained motive be illustrated to us. Any bar of wood or metal you can balance upon a pivot and constrain into a north and south direction; a magnetic needle delicately suspended in the same way will constantly constrain itself into a north and south direction. An applied constraint in one instance, an immanent tendency in the other. Although it will occur to you, I hope, that even this immanent tendency of the magnetized needle becomes operative only as celestial polarity makes itself in a delicate way inwardly felt. The needle would not move only as the heavens move in it. Or again–one pupil solves a problem according to the rule stated in his arithmetic; another pupil solves the same problem purely at the direction of his own mathematical insight. The result may be the same–the steps by which the result is reached may be the same; but in the latter instance the process will be purely intellectual, and in the former to a considerable degree mechanical; for between such constrained operations of mind and the operations of a Babbages calculating machine the points of resemblance are obvious and striking. This contrast, however, must not betray us into supposing that our gifted problem-worker is not as amenable, quite as amenable, to authority, as the boy who ciphers with his finger on the rule. When a man becomes a genius, a mathematical genius if you please, he passes out from under the constraints of his book, but not from under the supremacy of his science. There is no caprice about genius. Genius does not care much for a set of explicit regulations, but that does not mean that genius is lawless; in fact no mind comes so close to, and into such loyal intimacy with, the very substance of mathematical law as the free and the gifted mathematician. So far from genius discarding law, rather is it the supreme joy of genius to re-enact the eternal and unwritten law in the chamber of its own intellect. And however the Christian, the moral genius, may discard systems of detailed ordainment suited to a slow-paced Hebrew, so far from a Christians denying the great supremacy beneath which he stands, rather is it his sovereign joy to re-enact in the senate-chamber of his own conscience the unwritten law that abides eternal in the bosom of his Lord. (Chas. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
The Spirits leading
We cannot put one foot before another in religion, except as we are led; and if there be difficulty of a more than common order, it is that which encounters the man who takes upon himself to be his own guide in seeking salvation. We are not, indeed, machines; we are not to be the subjects of an uncontrollable impulse, or a rigid compulsion, destroying free will, and forcing us into righteousness; but if we be not, drawn, we must be led; if there be no bending of the will which would destroy our moral responsibility, there must be a bending of the will which would incline us to godliness. Helpless and hopeless is mans natural estate: born in sin, cradled in sorrow. The Spirit of the living God enters into this alienated creature, lifts him from the dust, urges him with vigour, and introduces him into the circle of the celestial family, leading him to the knowledge of all that is most blessed and to the love of all that is most beautiful, leading him from ruin to triumph, from the wreck of all that Adam was to the fulness of all that Christ Jesus is. Whom else, then, shall I take as my guide? Shall I be led by reason? Meteor of a day, I cannot trust thee. Shall I be led by philosophy? Device of man, thou canst not bring me to God. Oh, Spirit of light, Spirit of truth, enter Thou into our souls, and go Thou before us, as went the fiery cloudy pillar before Israel of old; and we will follow Thee, and we will obey Thee; making it our confidence, that, if we are led of Thee, we are sons of God and heirs of immortality. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
A disposition to follow the guide needed
The case is not merely that the man has lost his way. The traveller who is conscious that he has wandered from the road is uneasy at advancing, so that he will climb every little eminence as that from which he may hope to catch some landmark; and if none be around him, he will look up to the stars, and seek to learn from the constellations the direction he should take; and all his actions will betray his anxiety. If he hear but the barking of a shepherds dog, or discern a glimmering light amongst distant trees, there will be an eagerness in endeavouring to procure intelligence, and to seek guidance. But there is nothing of all this in the moral traveller. He will follow with obstinate determination the path upon which he has entered. And though there be much to assure him of his error–the rugged rocks, and deep mountains, and tangled forests–he will nevertheless push desperately on, pausing now and then for a moment, as though half conscious that all is not right, and then with a more dogged resolution hurrying forward in the same hopeless course. Thus he requires something more than a guide; he must be furnished with a disposition to follow. And when we say that the Spirit of God leads the true Christian, we do not mean that it merely goes before him as a guide and a director to the city of refuge. Nay, but that it takes hold on him, as did the angel when he brought Lot out of Sodom. We rather mean that the Spirit literally leads him by dwelling in him, residing in him as a quickening and actuating principle. (Chas. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
The leading of the Spirit
These words have before now been must mischievously mistaken by ignorant persons who were glad enough to suppose that by Christian privilege they were put out of the reach of the law. The meaning is as follows:–The Holy Spirit of God puts into the heart of man the Spirit of Christ, and this is the Spirit to think and do whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. Now if a man have in himself the spirit for a thing, what needs he any outward ordinance to compel him to it? To the man who is led by the Spirit the works of the law of God are the natural outward, working of his spirit, as natural to him as the very motion of his limbs; he does not want them to be written down, any more than he requires to be told that he must move his arms and legs, and they can neither condemn him nor justify him; he is what he is without them, before he comes to them; and, as St. Paul says, he, through the Spirit, waits for the hope of righteousness by faith; so independent is he of them. Is it not manifest, then, that he who is led by the Spirit is not, under the law? Let us go on, then, to know more concerning this Spirit, in which we are called into such glorious liberty. It is, as I have said, the Spirit of Christ within a man, formed there by the renewing power of the Holy Spirit; it is the new, the inner, the spiritual man, and the walk of this man is, of course, a following of Christ, a continual working out of that which he believes; for instance, he believes that Christ was crucified, therefore he crucifies the flesh with the affections and lusts; he believes that Christ died, therefore he reckons himself dead unto sin; he believes that Christ rose again, therefore he reckons himself alive unto God through Him; he believes that Christ ascended into heaven, therefore he sets his affections on things above; he believes that Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, administering His kingdom and interceding for His people, therefore he does all that His kingdom may come and His will be done, and is instant in prayer; he believes that Christ will come again to judge the quick and the dead, therefore he does the part of a faithful servant in watching and waiting for his Lord. Our notion of perfect liberty in the flesh is to do everything that we like; but experience soon tells us that the notion is impossible. But the true Christian does everything that he likes, for he does everything from the heart, because of the spirit which is within him. This it is to be led by the Spirit; this is the liberty wherewith Christ hath made His people free. Shall we not desire to stand fast in it? Shall we surrender ourselves to the bondage of the law? Let us only consider a little farther the difference of these two states.
1. To be under the bondage of the law, is either to take merit to ourselves for obeying it, or to bring its vengeance upon us by disobeying it; in either ease it is a hard master indeed.
2. Surely, then, there is no real liberty but that wherewith the gospel of Christ makes us free. Let me state a few particulars of this also. The man of God, continuing in the word of Christ, and led by the Spirit, uses the law as he does a road; he is not guided by it, any more than a man perfectly acquainted with a country is guided by it, but he uses it to travel along through this world, and he delights in it, as in a road to a better place, and as in the exercise of his spirit. As for the commandments of God, he loves them, and in His statutes he meditates. The word of God is a lamp unto his feet and a light unto his path. He feels no unwillingness; he has no mind for pleading excuses and making delays; but he deplores the weakness of the flesh, which in this body of sin cannot follow up the willingness of the spirit, and he strives to put to full account all the means which God hath so graciously given in Jesus Christ our Lord for enabling him to keep the precepts and testimonies of the Lord. He takes to himself no merit for keeping them, any more than for eating or drinking, or satisfying any craving of his nature; the leading of the Spirit makes the will of God his will, and therefore doing the will of God is doing his own will, so that while he keeps the law he is not subject to it. (R. W. Evans, B. D.)
Beside the spirit of our mind (Eph 4:23) every man is led by some spirit or other.
1. One is led by the spirit of error (1Ti 4:1).
2. Another by the spirit of giddiness (Isa 19:14).
3. Another by the spirit of bondage (verse 1; Rom 8:15).
4. Another by the spirit of the world (1Co 2:12).
5. The regenerate by the Spirit of God.
I. How may a man know that he is truly led by the Spirit? The Spirit leads–
1. In a right way: the way of Gods commandment.
2. By a just rule: the word of truth.
3. Sweetly and justly.
4. In a constant way of progression, from grace to grace.
5. In a way opposed to the flesh.
II. Who are those who are not led by the Spirit?
1. Those who go in a known evil way.
2. Those who are led by their own imaginations without any warrant from the Word of God.
3. Those who are carried by passions and distempers even in a good way.
4. Those who make no progress.
5. Those who fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Bishop Hall.)
I. The need of guidance and help.
1. We are ignorant of the road.
2. Have defective vision and cannot see our way.
3. Are lame and impotent.
II. We should seek for this guidance and help. This is what a lost, benighted, or disabled traveller does. Man, however, does the opposite, and pursues his journey perversely, blindly, helplessly.
III. We must be provided spiritually with what an ordinary traveller has mentally,
1. A disposition to seek the right way.
2. A willingness to receive every help in the pursuit of it.
IV. This is supplied by the Spirit of God.
1. He leads by dwelling in the believer as a quickening and actuating principle ever aspiring after knowledge and holiness.
2. Under His guidance the believer advances–
(1) in knowledge
(a) of the person and work of Christ;
(b) of the issues of obedience and suffering;
(c) of Christs spiritual kingdom.
(2) In holiness.
(a) In inward graces;
(b) in outward deportment.
V. This leading is not driving.
1. The free will is not destroyed by uncontrollable impulses or rigid compulsion.
2. The will is so influenced as to be inclined to holiness. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The spiritually guided not under the law
I. Negatively. I am not under the law–of picking pockets. If the law were abolished to-morrow, I would not pick anybodys pocket. I am not under the law of murder; for if there were no gallows, nor officer, nor judge, nor court, I would not murder. I am not under the law to drunkenness. I can go by a whole regiment of shops and never think of turning in. I am above it. I have the law within me. I do not abstain from gambling because gambling is disreputable, and I fear losses. I do not gamble because I do not want to. I do not avoid bad company because I should lose respectability; but for the same reason that musicians do not sit down and work out discords, and who keep to harmony because harmony is so sweet, and discord so painful. And so in regard to spiritual things, we are led by the Divine Spirit into such a state of approbation and satisfaction in the higher things, that we do not want the inferior, the antagonistic, the antithetic.
II. Positively. There is not in all the statute books in the world one single word saying to the mother, Thou shalt love thy babe. There is not a Church or creed which says, Thou shalt feed thy babe. But see the mother as the twilight darkens, sitting with her child as it draws sustenance from her own bosom, and singing sweet carols, and counting it the proudest of all the hours of the day. She has the love of the mother in her, and does the things that ought to be done, because she loves to do them–it is automatic. So if ye be led of the Spirit ye do the things by the law that is in you, and by your spiritual preferences and loves and likes, which otherwise are commandments. (H. W. Beecher.)
From bondage to liberty by obedience
Consider how many laws there are which affect a mans body–the laws of light, of heat, of gravitation, of sleep, of digestion, of exercise, dec., etc. When men are young and inexperienced, and have no one to teach them they get into trouble by violating these laws. They have no mind to keep them, and they suffer in consequence. They are in bondage respecting these laws. But as they learn more perfectly, so that they use their eyes according to the law of light, and their ears according to the law of sound, and their mouth according to the law of health; selecting this thing because the law requires, rejecting that because the law forbids it–then they are set free from these trials, and pass out of a state of bondage into a state of liberty. The little child when it begins to walk has to think where it shall put this foot and where it shall put that, and has to poise itself carefully, and use its mind as well as its body. But a man walks without thinking. What is the difference? One is under the law–has not learned it–is yet subject to it; the other has learned it so perfectly that he is emancipated from it. The man does automatically, what it requires an effort on the part of the child to do. The child is in bondage and the man is free, because the child does not keep the law, and the man does. (H. W. Beecher.)
The Holy Spirit our light
A man has lost his way in a dark and dreary mine. By the light of one candle, which he carries in his hand, he is groping for the road to sunshine and to home. That light is essential to his safety. The mine has many winding passages, in which he may be hopelessly bewildered. Here and there marks have been made on the rocks to point out the true path, but he cannot see them without that light. There are many deep pits into which, if unwary, he may suddenly fall; but he cannot avoid the danger without that. Should it go out, that mine will be his tomb. How carefully he carries it! How anxiously he shields it from sudden gusts of air, from water dropping on it, from everything that might quench it! The case described is our own. (Newman Hall.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 18. But, if ye be led of the Spirit] If ye receive again the Gospel and the grace of Christ, and permit yourselves to be influenced by the Holy Spirit whom you are now grieving, ye are not under the law-ye will not feel those evil propensities which now disgrace and torment you; but they must prevail while you are not under the influence of the grace and Spirit of Christ.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To be led of the Spirit, and to walk in the Spirit, are the same thing; and differ only as the cause and the effect. To be
under the law, is to be under the curse of it, or coaction of it, and an obligation to the performance of the ceremonial law. The reason is, because the Spirit is a Spirit of adoption and liberty; and where it is, it teacheth to serve the Lord without fear from a principle of freedom and ingenuity.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. “If ye are led(give yourselves up to be led) by (Greek) the Spirit,ye are not under the law.” For ye are not working the works ofthe flesh (Gal 5:16; Gal 5:19-21)which bring one “under the law” (Rom 8:2;Rom 8:14). The “Spirit makesfree from the law of sin and death” (Ga5:23). The law is made for a fleshly man, and for the works ofthe flesh (1Ti 1:9), “notfor a righteous man” (Rom 6:14;Rom 6:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But if ye be led by the Spirit,…. That is, of God, who is the guide and leader of his people. It is a metaphor taken from the leading of persons that are blind; as such are before conversion, and whom the Spirit of God leads in ways they knew not, and in paths they had not known: or from the leading of children, and teaching them to go; so the Spirit leads regenerate persons, and teaches them to walk by faith in Christ. This act of leading supposes life in the persons led, for dead men cannot be led; the Spirit is first a Spirit of life from Christ before he is a leader; and also it supposes some strength, though a good deal of weakness; were there no spiritual strength derived from Christ, they could not be led; and if there was no weakness, there would be no need of leading; it is an instance of powerful and efficacious grace upon them, yet not contrary to their wills, though they are led, they are not forced; they go freely, being led, as there is good reason for it; for the Spirit of God always leads for their profit and advantage, and for the spiritual delight, pleasure, and comfort of their souls; he leads out of the ways of sin, and so of ruin and destruction, and from Mount Sinai, and all dependence on a legal and moral righteousness; he leads to Christ, to his person, for shelter, safety, and salvation, to his blood, for pardon and cleansing, to his righteousness, for justification, and to his fulness, for every supply of grace; he leads into the presence of God, and to his house and ordinances; he leads into the covenant of grace, to the blessings, promises, and Mediator of it; he leads into all truth as it is in Jesus, in the ways of faith and truth, and in the paths of righteousness and holiness, and always in a right way, though sometimes in a rough one, to the city of their habitation; he leads from one degree of grace to another, and at last to glory: all which he does gradually; he leads by little and little into a man’s sinfulness, and to see his interest in Christ, and by degrees into the doctrines of the Gospel, and the everlasting love of the three Persons; and proportionally to the strength he gives, and as they are able to bear: now such persons as these have nothing to fear from the law of God:
ye are not under the law; such are not only delivered from the law in fact, but in their own apprehensions; they have the comfortable knowledge and experience of it; the law is no terrifying law to them; it works no wrath in them; they are delivered from the spirit of bondage to fear, by the Spirit of God, by whom they are led; nor are they under it, nor do they need it as a pressing forcing law to duty; they delight in it, and cheerfully serve it, being constrained by love, and not awed by fear; nor are its accusations and charges regarded, or to be regarded, by such who are led by the Spirit to Christ, the end of the law for righteousness; and they are entirely freed from its curse and condemnation, though they are under it, and desire to be under it, as held forth by Christ the King of saints; and, under the Spirit’s influence and guidance, yield a cheerful and evangelical obedience to it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Under the law ( ). Instead of “under the flesh” as one might expect. See Ga 3:2-6 for contrast between law and spirit. The flesh made the law weak (Rom 8:3; Heb 9:10; Heb 9:13). They are one and the same in result. See same idea in Ro 8:14. Note present tense of (if you are continually led by the Spirit). See verse 23.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The question is, which of these two powers shall prevail. If the Spirit, then you are free men, no longer under the law. Comp. Rom 6:11, 14. Under the law [ ] . The Mosaic law. We might have expected, from what precedes, under the flesh. But the law and the flesh are in the same category. Circumcision was a requirement of the law, and was a work of the flesh. The ordinances of the law were ordinances of the flesh (Heb 9:10, 13); the law was weak through the flesh (Rom 8:3). See especially, Gal 3:2 – 6. In Phi 3:3 ff. Paul explains his grounds for confidence in the flesh as his legal righteousness. The whole legal economy was an economy of the flesh as distinguished from the Spirit.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But if ye be led of the Spirit,” (ei de pneumati agesthe) “Yet, if you all are led by the Spirit” they are (exist as) children of God, Rom 8:14-16. The Spirit is the ruling principal and to be the commander-in-chief of the believer’s conduct, Eph 4:30-32.
2) “Ye are not under the law,” (ouk este hupo nomon) “You all are not under (jurisdiction of) law,” or its chains of bondage. For no man can serve two Masters — Moses and Jesus, the law and the Spirit; not Moses, law ceremonies, or rituals of the Law, but Jesus alone saves and requires obedient following today, Rom 6:14; Rom 8:2; Luk 16:16; Rom 3:28. The law finds no occasion of moral condemnation to those who walk in the Spirit, for the Spirit resists the things condemned in the law.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
18. But if ye be led by the Spirit. In the way of the Lord believers are apt to stumble. But let them not be discouraged, because they are unable to satisfy the demands of the law. Let them listen to the consolatory declaration of the apostle, which is also found in other parts of his writings, (Rom 6:14,) ye are not under the law. Hence it follows, that the performance of their duties is not rejected on account of their present defects, but is accepted in the sight of God, as if it had been in every respect perfect and complete. Paul is still pursuing the controversy about freedom. The Spirit is elsewhere (Rom 8:15) denominated by him, “the Spirit of adoption;” and when the Spirit makes men free, he emancipates them from the yoke of the law. As if he had said, “Is it your desire instantly to terminate the controversies in which you are now engaged? Walk according to the Spirit. You will then be free from the dominion of the law, which will act only in the capacity of a kind adviser, and will no longer lay a restraint upon your consciences.” Besides, when the condemnation of the law is removed, freedom from ceremonies follows as a necessary consequence; for ceremonies mark the condition of a slave.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) Ye are not under the law.Strictly, Ye are not under lawlaw in the abstract. The flesh and law are correlative terms: to be free from the one is to be free from the other. The flesh represents unaided human nature, and law is the standard which this unaided human nature strives, but strives in vain, to fulfil. By the intervention of the Spirit, the law is fulfilled at the same time that its domination is abolished and human nature ceases to be unaided. In its highest part it is brought into direct contact with the divine nature, and the whole tenor of its actions changes accordingly.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. Led By your submission and following of his drawings.
Not under the law Not that the obligations of the moral law cease to rest upon you, but that by the full accordance of your heart with the law you feel not the presence of the law.
Gal 5:19-21 present the summation of the works of the flesh, in contrast with Gal 5:21-26, which present the fruits of the Spirit.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But if you are being led by the Spirit you are not under the Law’.
This is the crux of the matter. Those who submit to the Spirit’s prompting, with the help of the Spirit’s power, will live positive lives of Christian love, for they are ‘being led by the Spirit’, a continual process which includes His empowering. They do not constantly check a list to see whether they have attained the standard. They do not struggle to keep the Law so as to be acceptable to God, and live in dread of breaking it. They are not tied down by rules and regulations. They rather recognise that they are acceptable to God through the crucified One and so they gladly seek to keep His commandments as led and empowered by the Spirit. They constantly continue submitting themselves to the control of the Spirit. They constantly allow Christ to live through them. And this is something that in their inner hearts they want to do. And the more that they come to know Christ, the more they will want to be like Him.
It is true that the flesh may sometimes pull them down, but in the end they rise again and finally overcome, because they want to please their Father. Such people are ‘not under the Law’, for they have died to the Law and live to God, and the life that they now live in the flesh they live by faith in the Son of God Who loved them and gave Himself for them (Gal 2:20). They are aware of sorrow for sin, but not of condemnation from the Law, because that has been borne by Christ, and they rather use the Law as a guide to the mind of God.
And it this leading which is evidence that they are sons of God. ‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God (Rom 8:14).’
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gal 5:18. But if ye be led by the Spirit, “But if ye give yourselves up to the conduct of the Spirit of God, by faith in Christ, ye are not under the law.” For they who are led by the Spirit of God, are the sons of God; and so heirs, and free. This is plainly the sense of the Apostle, who teaches all along, in the former part of this Epistle, as well as of that to theRomans, that those who put themselves under the gospel, are not under the law of Moses, or under the Adamic law. The reason of the Apostle’s thus using the word Spirit, is, indeed, very apparent in the doctrine of the New Testament; which teaches that those who receive Christ, by faith, with him receive his Spirit, and its sacred and powerful influences against the flesh. See Rom 8:9-11. Accordingly, for the obtaining of salvation, St. Paul joins together belief of the truth, and sanctification of the Spirit, 2Th 2:13. See also Eph 3:16.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gal 5:18 . If, however, of these two conflicting powers, the Spirit is that which rules you, in what blessed freedom ye are then! Comp. 2Co 3:17 ; Rom 8:2 ff.
] See on Rom 8:14 . Comp. also 2Ti 3:6 .
] namely, because then the law can have no power over you; through the ruling power of the Spirit ye find yourselves in such a condition of moral life (in such a , Rom 6:4 , and , Rom 7:6 ), that the law has no power to censure, to condemn, or to punish anything in you. Comp. on Rom 8:4 . In accordance with Gal 5:23 , this explanation is the only correct one; and this freedom is the true moral freedom from the law, to which the apostle here, in accordance with Gal 5:13 , attaches importance. Comp. 1Ti 1:9 . There is less accuracy in the usual interpretation (adopted by Winer, Rckert, Matthies, Schott, Baumgarten-Crusius; comp. de Wette): ye no longer need the law; as Chrysostom: ; ; or: you are free from the outward constraint of the law (Usteri, Ewald); comp. also Hofmann, who, in connection with his mistaken interpretation of Gal 5:14 , understands a subjection to the law as a requirement coming from without , which does not exist in the case of the Christian, because in him the law collectively as an unity is fulfilled.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2084
THE CHRISTIAN FREED FROM THE LAW
Gal 5:18. If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
TO understand these words aright, we must notice, first the general scope of the whole epistle, and then, the particular scope of the more immediate context. The epistle itself was written to establish the doctrine of justification by faith alone, without the deeds of the law; in opposition to the Judaizing teachers, who insisted on the necessity of observing the Jewish ritual, in order to form a justifying righteousness, or, at all events, to increase and confirm their interest in Christ. In support of his argument, the Apostle shews, that though the Law was, as a preparatory dispensation, subservient to the Gospel, it was, as a ground of hope before God, directly opposed to the Gospel; so that they could not consist together, either in whole or in part; and any attempt to blend the Law with the Gospel would invalidate the Gospel altogether, and render Christ himself of no effect [Note: ver. 2, 4.]. But, as this controversy had been carried on with great vehemence, and had produced a very grievous irritation in the minds of the contending parties, St. Paul, after establishing the truth on a basis that could not be shaken, and enjoining his converts to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free, and on no account to suffer themselves to be entangled any more with the yoke of bondage, goes on to say, Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty: only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another: for all the law is fulfilled in one word, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But, if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say, then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would; but, if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. This, you perceive, is the immediate context, wherein the Apostle cautions the Galatians against either abusing their liberty, or maintaining it with an unchristian spirit; since, if they acted as became their holy profession, they would exercise nothing but love, either towards their friends or their enemies. And this he trusted they would do; because they had within themselves a spiritual principle, which, though strongly and perseveringly opposed by the carnal principle yet remaining in them, would ultimately prevail: and the effectual operation of that better principle would be sufficient of itself to prove that they were not under the law; since the law could never accomplish so blessed a work; whereas the very design of the Gospel, and its invariable effect, was to produce it. The dominance of the better principle was a proof that they were not under the law, but under grace [Note: Rom 6:14.].
This I apprehend to be the precise import of the passage before us: wherein we see a state presumed; namely, that the true Christian is led by the Spirit: and a privilege inseparably connected with that state; namely, that the person so living is not under the law.
To these points I will now address myself, in their order.
Let us first notice,
I.
The state presumed
It is here taken for granted, that every child of God is led by the Spirit. But, whether we are to understand this expression as referring to the Holy Ghost, or to that spiritual principle which is infused into us by the Spirit of God, it is not easy to determine. I rather prefer the latter sense, as more immediately suggested by the context: and it is certain that our Lord speaks of that divine principle under the very term which is here used; That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit [Note: Joh 3:6.]. By being led by the Spirit, then, I understand the being under the influence of a spiritual principle, in opposition to that carnal principle which directs and governs the natural man. And this really characterizes every true Christian. Not only does he possess a new and spiritual nature; but in him,
1.
It gains the ascendant
[We acknowledge, that in him the old man still remains; and that the law of sin still works in his members, to bring forth fruit unto death. But there is in him a new man, a law in his mind, which counteracts his evil propensities, and enables him finally to overcome them. True, indeed, the conflict is often severe; and the saint will at all times be constrained to say, The good which I would, I do not; and the evil which I would not, that I do. Still, however, through grace he gains the victory over his corruptions, and is daily renewed in the spirit of his mind after the Divine image. Though tempted by the world, the flesh, and the devil, he triumphs over them all in Christ Jesus [Note: 2Co 2:14.]; and with his groans for more entire deliverance mingles this song of praise, Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ [Note: Rom 7:21; Rom 7:25.]!]
2.
It forms his taste
[Outward victory may be gained to a great extent, whilst yet the heart remains unchanged. But where this new principle really exists, the man will hate the things which once he loved, and love the things which once he hated. Though he may still be tempted in a variety of ways, he will feel, in a measure, as our Lord himself did under the temptations of Satan. There will be less of the inflammable matter in his soul for the fiery darts of Satan to fix upon; and a greater plenty of water at hand, even of the Spirit of God, to counteract the first action of the fire upon his soul. There will also be a greater delight in heavenly things; so that he will engage in them with greater ease, and find himself more in his element, when employed in holy exercises. We may conceive what would be the taste of an angel, if sent down to sojourn for a time on earth; with what indifference he would behold the things of time and sense; and with what a zest he would perform the will of God: and thus the true Christian, though far, alas! from any thing like angelic attainments, will lose his relish for the things which he once affected, and will savour those things only which are suited to the spiritual mind. And this will serve him as a criterion whereby to judge of his state before God. He may for a time be driven, by the force of temptation, from that which his soul supremely affects, even as the needle may be forced from its wonted rest: but let the opportunity once return for the discovery of his real feelings, and he will turn to his God, even as the needle to the pole: and by that he will shew whose attractions he delights in, and whose motions he obeys.]
3.
It regulates his life
[The aberrations of the more advanced Christian will be comparatively small and transient. Though in the world, he will not be of the world. Whether he move amongst the higher classes, or in. the humblest walk of life, there will be a consistency about him: he will be the man of God in all places, and in. all situations: he will shine as a light in a dark world; and his light will shine more and more unto the perfect day. The spiritual principle within him is compared by our Lord to a fountain of water; which pours not out its streams like an engine wrought upon from without; but sends them forth by a power from within, and springs up, as it were, unto everlasting life. Behold him day or night, and he is still the same; a blessing to the world, an ornament to his profession, an honour to his God.]
Let not any one suppose that this is an imaginary character, drawn only to serve a purpose: it is a real character; and, though doubtless it exists in different degrees, it really distinguishes every child of God: and In my text we see,
II.
The privilege inseparably connected with it
He is not under the law
[He has nothing to fear from its curses; because the Saviour, in whom he has believed, and from whom he has received the gift of the Holy Ghost, has borne them for him. He has no dependence on its promises; seeing that he has a better righteousness than that can ever afford to fallen man; even the righteousness of Christ himself imputed to him, and made his by faith. Not even its commands have the same terrific influence on his mind which they had in his unconverted state. For though he still feels bound to obey them, he does not obey them with the same slavish fear which once oppressed his mind: they are no longer to him the terms of salvation, on a perfect compliance with which his everlasting happiness depends: they are to him rather the expressions of his Fathers will, which it is the joy of his soul to fulfil and execute. His real state in relation to the law, is like that of a woman to her deceased husband. He was once altogether under its authority, whilst in his unconverted state; but when he embraced the Gospel, the Law became dead with respect to him, and he dead with respect to it: and, though he still makes it the rule of his life, he obeys it through grace communicated to him by the Lord Jesus; to whom, as a woman on her second marriage, he now bears fruit unto holiness [Note: Rom 7:1-4.].]
Of his liberation. from the law he has within himself a clear and decisive evidence
[This I conceive to be the true meaning of my text. He is under the prevailing influence of the Holy Spirit, and of a new nature implanted by him: but whence did he receive the Holy Spirit? Was it under the law, or by the hearing of faith [Note: Gal 3:2.]? It was by the hearing of faith, no doubt; that is, by the Gospel of Christ, who purchased for his people the gift of the Holy Spirit, and who sends forth his Spirit upon all who believe in him [Note: Gal 3:14.]. What the law could not do for him, in that it was weak through the flesh, the Gospel has done: it has destroyed the power of sin within him; and enabled him to walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit [Note: Rom 8:3-4.]. Hence he is assured that there is no condemnation to him: for if the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus have made him free from the law of sin, it has also freed him from death, which is the consequence of sin [Note: Rom 8:1-2.]. Behold, then, the liberty into which he is introduced: Being delivered from the power of darkness, he is translated into the kingdom of Gods dear Son [Note: Col 1:13.]; and, being made free by him, he is become free indeed [Note: Joh 8:36.].]
From this subject, I cannot but urge upon you two words of advice:
1.
Take care that your principles are pure and evangelical
[It is thought by many, that if our outward conduct be correct, we need not he under any anxiety resecting the principles which we profess. But, is it of no consequence whether we continue under the law, or whether we embrace the Gospel? Are we not expressly told, that as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse [Note: Gal 3:10.]? Are we not also told, that God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons [Note: Gal 4:4-5.]? Is it of no importance, then, whether we lie under this curse, or be redeemed from it? Would God have used such means for our redemption, if it had been a matter of indifference whether we were redeemed or not? Take the Apostle Paul in his unconverted state: he was, as touching the righteousness which was in the law blameless [Note: Php 3:6.]: but yet he found afterwards, that, had he died in his unconverted state, he must have perished for ever [Note: Rom 7:9-10.]. So, indeed, must all of you, who cleave to the law as a covenant of works, instead of laying hold of the covenant of grace. Nothing can be more clearly declared than this: Be your advantages or attainments what they may, if you go about to establish your own righteousness, instead of submitting to the righteousness of God, you must perish [Note: Rom 9:30-33; Rom 10:3.]. The very law itself is intended to lead you to Christ [Note: Gal 3:24.]; and He is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth [Note: Rom 10:4.]. I call you, then, to believe in Christ for salvation, and, like the Apostle, to renounce your own righteousness altogether, that you may be found in Christ, and be accepted through the righteousness which is by faith in him [Note: Php 3:9.].]
2.
Take care that your conduct be such as becometh the Gospel of Christ
[You clearly see, in my text, that principles and conduct must go together: neither will stand without the other. Without faith in Christ, you can never hope to receive the Holy Spirit, or to be renewed in the spirit of your mind: nor, on the other hand, will any change whatever avail you, if you rely not entirely on the Lord Jesus Christ for righteousness and salvation. It is in vain to build a superstructure, if it be not founded on Him; and it is in vain to think you are founded on him, if your faith do not manifest itself by a superstructure of good works. You must never forget, that faith without works is dead. You must be led by the Spirit of God, if ever you would approve yourselves sons of God [Note: Rom 8:14.]. The world, as I have before shewn you, must be put under your feet: sin, in all its actings, must be mortified and subdued: the whole soul must be given up to God; and holiness become the very element in which you breathe and live. Indeed, it is not a mere formal observance of duties that will suffice: we must have the very mind that was in Christ, and walk in all things as Christ himself walked. This will be our evidence, that we are really his: for then only can it be known that we are not under the law, but under grace, when Christ himself lives in us, and no sin whatever is permitted to have dominion over us [Note: Rom 6:14. with Gal 2:19-20.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Ver. 18. Ye are not under the law ] For where the Spirit is, there is liberty from the rigour, irritation, and malediction of the law.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
18 .] By this verse, the locus respecting the flesh and the Spirit is interwoven into the general argument, thus (cf. Gal 5:23 ): the law is made for the flesh, and the works of the flesh: the Spirit and flesh : if ( bringing out the contrast between the treatment of both in Gal 5:17 , and the selection of one side in this verse) then ye are led by (see Rom. ref., , ) the Spirit, ye are not under the law . This he proceeds to substantiate, by specifying the works of the flesh and of the Spirit. This interpretation is better than the merely practical one of Chrys., al., , , , for it is a very different thing , from .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Gal 5:18 . Law finds no just occasion against men who are led by the spirit, for they themselves check every wrong desire within them, and so fulfil the whole Law. The identity of Law with justice and right is, of course, assumed.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
of = by. No preposition.
under. Greek. hupo. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
18.] By this verse, the locus respecting the flesh and the Spirit is interwoven into the general argument, thus (cf. Gal 5:23): the law is made for the flesh, and the works of the flesh: the Spirit and flesh : if ( bringing out the contrast between the treatment of both in Gal 5:17, and the selection of one side in this verse) then ye are led by (see Rom. ref., , ) the Spirit, ye are not under the law. This he proceeds to substantiate, by specifying the works of the flesh and of the Spirit. This interpretation is better than the merely practical one of Chrys., al., , , ,-for it is a very different thing , from .
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Gal 5:18. , by the Spirit) of God, Rom 8:14, and of liberty.-, ye be led) The middle voice;[52] see Rom., as above, with the annot.- , under the law) Rom 6:14-15.
[52] Ye give yourselves up to the leading of.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Gal 5:18
Gal 5:18
But if ye are led by the Spirit,-This implies an entire surrender of the believer to the authority and guidance of the Spirit. He is led by the Spirit through the word of truth, which is the chart of his journey through life.
ye are not under the law.-[Not, on the one hand, because there is now no need of its beneficial influences, nor on the other, because it is now become an alien principle, because it finds nothing, in the one led by the Spirit, to forbid or condemn. (Verse 23). Legalism and carnality go together. The Spirit makes free from the law of sin and death. The law was made for the fleshly man, and fleshly works (1Ti 1:9); not for the righteous man (Rom 6:14-15).]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Chapter 30
But If Ye Be Led of the Spirit
“But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
(Gal 5:18-21)
What a horrid warfare rages in our souls, a warfare between the flesh and the Spirit! “But, how good it is to read that word here, But. That means the Apostle has more instruction to give us about this matter. But if ye be led of the Spirit That is to say, if we are led by God the Holy Spirit, as children are led by the hand, and taught to live by faith in Christ, we are not under the law.
Life Implied
The fact that we are led by the Spirit of God implies that he has given us life in Christ, that we are born of God. A dead person cannot be led. It also supposes some strength, John Gill wrote, though a good deal of weakness. Were there no spiritual strength derived from Christ, they could not be led. And if there was no weakness, there would be no need of leading.
All who are led of the Spirit are led by him out of the paths of bondage and sin and ruin and destruction to Christ. They are led away from Sinais fiery mount to Christ. They are led away from all creature trust in legal works and personal righteousness to Christ. We are led to him for shelter, safety, and salvation. The Spirit of God leads us to Christs sin-atoning blood for pardon and cleansing, to his righteousness for justification and sanctification, and to his fulness for every supply of grace. He guides us into all truth and causes believing sinners to walk in the ways of faith and truth, in the paths of righteousness and holiness, looking to Christ alone as our hope before God. He leads through all the days of our pilgrimage in grace and leads at last to glory.
Not Under Law
Being led by the Spirit, living by faith in Christ, we have nothing to fear from the law. It is written, Ye are not under the law. This is not an obscure statement, but one that is repeated numerous times in the New Testament (Rom 6:14-15; Rom 7:4; Rom 10:4). Gods saints in this world are not under the law. Those who are born of God, those who live by faith in Christ are not under the law.
Read it again Ye are not under the law. Being led by the Spirit of God to Christ alone for righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, we are completely delivered from and free from the law, both in fact and in our own consciences. Trusting Christ, we possess the comfortable knowledge and experience of freedom from the law, freedom from all possibility of condemnation, because we are assured of our indestructible acceptance with God by the merits of our Redeemer.
Believers do not need the law (as religious hypocrites do) to force them to the performance of legal duties and religious activity. Believers delight in the law of God after the inward man and cheerfully serve God their Savior and one another, being constrained by the love of Christ. Gods saints are not mercenaries, but volunteers. We are not motivated by fear of punishment, reward, or loss of reward. When Paul says, If ye are led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law, this, too, is implied. If you are led by the law, you are not led by the Spirit.
Life in the Spirit
What is this life that Paul is describing? Is it a deeper life? Is it a higher life? Is it a life that some believers enjoy, while others live as mere carnal Christians? Is Paul here promoting the idea that there are class distinctions in the church and kingdom of Christ? The answer to those questions is an emphatic No! The life Paul is describing in this passage is the life of faith in Christ. It is written, The just shall live by faith. We do not make ourselves alive by faith in Christ. God the Holy Spirit creates life in us by his omnipotent grace. And the life he gives us in Christ is a life of faith. Just as the natural man lives by breathing, the children of God live believing Christ. Life in the Spirit is a life of faith in Christ. Those who do not live in the Spirit but in the flesh, those who are not led of the Spirit but by the lusts of the flesh, those who live after the carnal mind and not after the Spirit are yet dead in sin (Rom 8:1-14).
To walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16) is to be led of the Spirit (Gal 5:18). And those who walk in and are led of the Spirit of God bear fruit by the Spirit, having crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts (Gal 5:22-25). Pauls whole emphasis here is the work of God the Holy Spirit in us, not a work we do for God. Paul is telling us that his admonition to use our liberty in Christ to by love serve one another (Gal 5:13), and asserts that all the law is fulfilled in this one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Gal 5:14), he is not urging us to go back to the law. Rather, he is telling us that the grace of God in us writes the law of God upon our hearts (Heb 8:10), causing us to love one another.
Ye Shall Not
Remember, Paul did not say, Walk in the Spirit, and ye may not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. He said, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh (Gal 5:16). Gal 5:18 is another way of saying the same thing. If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Then, in Gal 5:19-21 he tells us what the works of the flesh are.
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
We do not need to look very far to see the horrible evils Paul here speaks of as the works of the flesh. We find them in our own hearts. This we must confess if we are honest before God. Remember, as Paul uses this term flesh he does not have reference to the physical body, but to the fallen nature of man. It is the word from which we have the word carnal. The carnal man is all that man is by nature and all that he brings with him into the world. Our thoughts, our affections, our consciences, and our wills are all governed by sin as natural men. The flesh is the carnal mind, which is enmity against God. It will not and cannot please God (Rom 8:6-7). This carnal mind (the flesh) asserts itself in works, which are clearly opposed to the Spirit of God. They are manifestly the works of the flesh. They are manifest before God. They are manifest in the law. And they are manifest in the consciences of men.
Works of the Flesh
Paul says these things are works of the flesh, whereas that produced in us by grace is the fruit of the Spirit. Paul specifically mentions seventeen different, manifest works of the flesh. These sins of humanity are common in all human beings in all ages. That which Paul describes here are evils flowing in a constant stream of vileness from the depraved hearts of depraved men. These are not things learned by bad company, but evils arising from the corrupt hearts of fallen men (Mar 7:20-23).
Sins of Passion
Paul first mentions sins of passion. Passion is a disease of the heart that betrays itself in constant restlessness. It is never satisfied with what it possesses. They include, but are not limited to, what we commonly think of as sexual sins. The sins of passion Paul names are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, and lasciviousness. Adultery is the defilement of the marriage bed (Pro 5:18-19). Fornication is a word used to describe any illicit sexual behavior between unmarried people. The word here translated fornication is the word from which we get our English word pornography. It includes incest, homosexuality, and all other forms of deviant sexual behavior. Uncleanness is a word generally used to portray any lack of chastity in thought, word, or action. Like fornication, it commonly has reference to sodomy and other perversions. Lasciviousness speaks of all lustful, sensual desires and those things that lead to acts of uncleanness, such as impure words and filthy gestures. Lasciviousness is the lack of self-control that characterizes the person who gives way to his lusts. Society and, often, even the religious world tolerates and even promotes these evils. But they are things in direct opposition to both the law of God and the gospel of the grace of God (1Co 6:9-11).
Sins of Profanity
Next, the Apostle speaks of sins of profanity: idolatry and witchcraft. Idolatry certainly includes covetousness (Col 3:5). However, in this place it has specific reference to the worship of false gods and images. Idolatry is participating in such worship. Any representations of the divine being are idolatrous, including religious pictures, images, icons, etc. The substitution of anything, or any person, for the love, adoration, and desire of the true God as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ is idolatry. Witchcraft is the use of magic to accomplish real or supposed superhuman acts. The carnal mind turns to the basest absurdities of witchcraft (fortune tellers, horoscopes, etc.), and rejects the Revelation of God in Holy Scripture.
Sins of Pride
Next, Paul names a long list of what might be called sins of pride. Hatred is murder. G. S. Bishop wrote, The two extremes of nature are sensuality and murder. The pendulum swings between these. The worship of the beautiful ends in an orgy! Shechem admires Dinah and defiles her. Amnon ruins Tamar and drives her from his house in anger.
Variance is fighting and quarreling with one another. Emulations are a boiling, a rising of temper because of the honor or happiness enjoyed by someone else. Wrath is the violent passion that seeks revenge.
Strife is the disruption of peace and harmony, causing discord (Jas 3:14-16). A wrathful man stirreth up strife. Believers appease it (Pro 15:18). Strife always occurs when men are moved by selfish motives, each craving honor for himself. He loveth transgression that loveth strife: and he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction (Pro 17:19). Strife is always the result of pride. He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife (Pro 28:25).
Seditions are schisms, factions, and divisions. Whether social, domestic, or religious, seditions (schisms) are always the evil result of pride and strife. Heresies are bad principles of doctrine, things that subvert the gospel. Heresy is the result of that miserable pride which sets itself up as the critic and judge of Gods Word.
Envyings are those uneasy, grieving vexations of the mind that arise because of the good others enjoy. Envy is aroused by pride when we see someone else advancing before us. Envy destroys the soul (Pro 14:30). Envy caused Cain to murder Abel. Envy caused Josephs brothers to sell him into slavery. Envy caused Korah, Dathan, and Abiram to rise up in rebellion against Moses. Envy kept the prodigals brother out of the Fathers house. Love is not envious (Gal 5:13; 1Co 13:4).
Murders are acts by which one man takes the life of another deliberately, merely to gratify his own hatred and wrath. Drunkenness is intoxication of the mind and body with drugs, alcoholic drinks, or any other means. Revelings are the uncontrolled riotousness of drunks.
Then, Paul says, and such like. With those words, John Gill tells us He shuts up the account, it being too tedious to give an enumeration of all the works of the flesh; nor was it necessary, judgment may be made of the rest by these; nor might it be so proper, since the carnal heart is but the more pleased with, and irritated by, the mention of evil things. The law of God was given to restrain and condemn all such behavior among men (1Ti 1:9-10).
Unregenerate People
At the end of Gal 5:21 the Apostle tells us plainly that all such people are utterly without grace and life in Christ. They are unregenerate, unbelieving people. Of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Henry Mahan wrote
Understand that these sinful practices are characteristics of the flesh, and though we have done these things and the potential to do them is still present in our flesh (as evidenced by Abraham, David, Lot, and Peter), yet this is not our pattern of life This is not the practice of the believer! Our tenor of life and the bent of our wills is holiness, righteousness and peace. Those who would still live by these principles and practices of the flesh are not redeemed and shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
The flesh is the proud root of depravity and God hating rebellion in every human heart. It always exalts itself, either with great subtly in proud self-righteousness or in blatant, God defying immorality. It is written, If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die (Rom 8:13).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
under the law
i.e. not under bondage of effort to please God by law-works. 2Co 3:17.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
if: Gal 5:16, Gal 5:25, Gal 4:6, Psa 25:4, Psa 25:5, Psa 25:8, Psa 25:9, Psa 143:8-10, Pro 8:20, Isa 48:16-18, Eze 36:27, Joh 16:13, Rom 8:12, Rom 8:14, 2Ti 1:7, 1Jo 2:20-27
ye are: Gal 4:5, Rom 6:14, Rom 6:15
Reciprocal: Mat 11:30 – my yoke Rom 3:19 – what things Rom 3:31 – yea Rom 7:4 – ye also 1Co 9:20 – are under Gal 3:23 – under
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gal 5:18. , -But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. introducing a new and contrasted thought: in opposition to this fluctuation of purpose and impotence of will-but. The dative is that of instrument. Winer, 31, 7; Krger, 48, 6, p. 286; Rom 8:14; in another aspect, 2Ti 3:6. To be led by the Spirit, in the full sense of it, is to be under His benign and powerful influence in all thoughts, aspirations, and acts,-to be yielded up to His government without reserve,-to have no will without His prompting it, no purpose without His shaping it,-is to be everywhere and in all things in willing submission to His control, and always guarding against any insubordination which may grieve the Holy Spirit of God. When men are in this condition, it is true of them-Ye are not under the law; not, ye will not be as a result, but ye are-a parallel condition. To be led by the Spirit is much the same as to walk by the Spirit, Gal 5:16. In what sense are those led by the Spirit not under the law?
Not, 1. Because you have no need of it-the opinion of Rckert, Matthies, Schott;- , ; (Chrysostom). This idea is not in the full extent of it warranted by anything in the context.
Nor, 2. Because the law is something foreign-an alien principle; for the law of the Spirit is engraven in his heart (Usteri). This is not fully found in the context. Nor is it,
3. Because the law finds in you nothing to forbid or condemn (Meyer, Wieseler, Ellicott). This is a strong statement, and one that actual experience does not verify. If the apostle be supposed to describe an ideal state, in which no element of the flesh had any power, and in which the whole man was under the willing, unresisted government of the Spirit, the statement would be true; for in a perfect saint the law would have nothing to forbid, because nothing forbidden is desired, and nothing to be condemned, because nothing condemnable is done (Windischmann). So far, indeed, as a man is guided by the Spirit, so far the law has nothing to condemn in him,-the law cannot be against the fruits of the Spirit. But the apostle is not describing what might be, or what ought to be, but what is. But,
4. As to be under law is to be under its authority, to be in bondage to it, so not to be under it is to be freed from its yoke-terrente, premente, vindicante (Estius, Lightfoot, Hofmann). The Galatians were putting themselves again in subjection to law, and ignoring the free government of the Spirit. To be led by the Spirit is incompatible with being under the law. See the beginning of chap. iii. To be under the law is thus to acknowledge its claim, and to seek to obey it in hope of meriting eternal life; but the believer dies to the law, and rises into newness of life,-is influenced by the Spirit of God as a guiding power within him; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. According to Rckert and Schott, one might expect the apostle to say, If ye are led by the Spirit, perficietis quod tanquam volueritis. It serves no purpose to make the verse a parenthesis (Koppe, Flatt). The and are placed under the same category. In the former verse it was flesh and spirit, here it is spirit and law. For the flesh is in subjection to the law, and the law condemns it. All about it is under the law, which at the same time, so far from checking or subduing, only irritates it, and helps it to develop its worst manifestations. See under Gal 3:19. The law is helpless for its deliverance. In this special case believers in Christ entered into a new dispensation, the special characteristic of which was the Spirit, according to Christ’s promise; and all who possessed His gracious influences were no longer under the law-a ministration of death, but had come into the possession of spiritual power and freedom,-their will, moved by a higher will, was growing able to realize its own purposes. Or, more generally, believers pass out of the dominion of law-mere law, having died to it; their hearts filled by the Spirit of God are under the government of a new principle. In this sense the law does not condemn them, as they are forgiven, and obedience to it is not the condition of their forgiveness; for there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Nor are they under the law in regard to their sanctification: as long as they were under it, they were disobeying it, and were slavishly struggling to escape its penalty. Not that they allow themselves to act contrary to it, but a higher power legislates within them, able at the same time to ensure obedience to its edicts,-that obedience being not a servile submission to law, but a willing conformity to the example of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. They are not under the law to command them sternly; they are guided and influenced by the Spirit of God-a divine law, an enshrined authority within them. There is in these statements no antinomianism, or going on in sin that grace may abound. The Spirit by whom we are led is the Spirit of holiness, and the flesh is crucified. The difference is as between formal law in outer statute, cold and dead as the tables of stone on which it was engraved, and a law within, a living power, fulfilling itself in love, and gradually working out a universal compliance; for sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace, and Christ is Sanctification as well as Righteousness. , . Cramer’s Catena in loc. Luther writes, 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, if I felt any evil emotion. If at that time I had rightly understood those sentences of Paul, I should not have so miserably tormented myself, but should have thought and said to myself, as I commonly now do-Martin, thou shalt not utterly be without sin, for thou hast flesh; thou shalt therefore feel the battle thereof. Despair not, therefore, but resist it strongly.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Gal 5:18. The Spirit here has direct reference to the Holy Spirit, since He was the instrument by which the New Testament system of religion was given to take the place of the Mosaic law.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Gal 5:18. But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under (the) law. Comp. Rom 8:14 : As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. The Spirit leads and guides men as moral and responsible beings, but does not drive or force them; hence it is possible to resist and to quench the Spirit (1Th 5:19), to grieve Him (Eph 4:30), and even to blaspheme Him and thus to commit the unpardonable sin (Mat 12:32). Pauls conversion was sudden and radical, out not forced; he might have kicked against the goads (Act 26:14), although it was hard (not impossible) for Him to do so. Ye are not under the law, under the dominion of the law which threatens death and keeps the conscience in constant terror. The law is a restraint of the flesh; to be free from the flesh is to be free from the restraint and curse of the law. The Spirit leads us into the fulfilment of the law of love (Gal 5:14), and the law ceases to be a yoke for trembling slaves, and becomes a rule for loving and grateful children and freemen. Luther: So great is the power and dominion of the Spirit that the law cannot accuse the godly. For Christ is our righteousness whom we apprehend by faith. He is without sin, and therefore the law cannot accuse Him. As long as we cleave fast unto Him, we are led by the Spirit and are free from the law.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
That is, if ye be under the guidance and government of the Holy Spirit of God, and that renewing principle of grace which he had produced in you, you are no longer under the law; that is, not under the moral law as a covenant of life for our justification, though under it as an eternal role of living; not under the vindictive, though under the directive power of the law. So that the force of the apostle’s argument seems to lie thus: “You are by the Spirit, by the spiritual dispensation of the gospel, free from the curse and terror of the moral law; how unreasonable then is it to suppose, that you should be still subject to the ceremonial law? No; if you be led by the Spirit, neither the moral law shall condemn you, nor the cermonial law oblige and bind you.”
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. [By as much as the Spirit triumphs within us, by that much are we freed from feeling the presence of the law. So long as we have two wills we are sensible of conflict, and so of the restraint of law, but when our nature is merged in the will of the Spirit, so that there is but one will within us, then we lose all consciousness of restraint. We attain to that true rule of liberty which Augustine condenses in the saying: “Love God, and do what you please.” God himself leads the life of perfect righteousness, yet God can never be said to be under law. He knows no law but his own choice, but his choice is ever righteousness because of the perfect holiness of his character. So the Christian should strive to bring his own will into such perfect accord with the will of the Spirit that he does not feel the constraint of law resting upon him.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Ah, here we are back at the thrust of things – if we are led of the Spirit we are not under the law – simple facts again. The one cannot go with the other. If you are led of the law, then you cannot be led of the Spirit.
“If” is a big word. In this usage it is to be understood as “If and assumed so” rather than “maybe yes, maybe no” – it is assumed fact that they are led of the Spirit.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
If we are led by the Spirit, we are not under the Law. This statement is a first class condition in the Greek text indicating that the writer assumed the statement was true for the sake of his argument. Other information about what he said determines whether it is really true. In this case Paul seems to have believed that the Holy Spirit does indeed lead every Christian (cf. Gal 5:24-26; Rom 8:14). The question is, will we follow His leading and walk after the Spirit (Gal 5:16) or will we walk after the flesh? The "if" in this sentence has the force of "since." However, we should not conclude that the Spirit forces us to do God’s will. He does not lead us that strongly.
The Holy Spirit leads us to do the moral will of God. He does this primarily through Scripture by helping us understand the will of God as He has revealed it there. Furthermore He motivates us to do what we know to be right, and He provides the power for us to obey God (Php 2:13). We can overcome the flesh by siding with the Spirit.
"Walking by the Spirit, the antidote to nomism [living by the law] of every kind, calls for resolution and staying power, as is made plain by Paul’s frequent use of athletic metaphor for the Christian life." [Note: Bruce, p. 246.]
"Being led by the Spirit does not imply passivity but rather the need to allow oneself to be led. Responding to the Spirit is described by three mutually interpreting words in Gal 5:16; Gal 5:18; Gal 5:25 -’walk’ (RSV), ’led,’ and ’live.’" [Note: Boice, p. 495.]
We might have expected Paul to write that since we are led by the Spirit we are not "under the flesh," but instead we read "under the law." His point was that the Christian cannot overcome the desires of the flesh by remaining under the law. The Judaizers were advocating submission to the law as the way to overcome the flesh, but Paul advocated submission to the Spirit.