Galatians 5:21Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see that the Apostle is speaking here not about the flesh, but about earthly and base thoughts? Therefore he also awakens fear, saying: "Those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God." If this depended on an evil nature and not on a corrupted will, he ought rather to have said not "do," but "suffer." But why then are they deprived of the Kingdom? Crowns and punishments follow not what is done by nature, but what is done by the will. This is why Paul threatened in this way.

Let those who slander the flesh answer us. Let shamelessness and adultery be sins of the body. But enmity, heresies, and the like, how do they depend on the flesh?

Therefore it is clear that all this is the work of a corrupted will. If they were works of the flesh as our natural properties, how would they deprive us of the Kingdom of God? For punishments and rewards belong not to nature, but to the will.

Moreover, if the passions were properties of nature, he would not have said, “those who do such things,” but “those who suffer such things,” because action presupposes will.

By enmity he means unjust enmity. There is also a righteous hostility, which arises for the sake of the faith and is directed against all who turn away from the straight path.

and the rest, of which I spoke while I was with you, and now in my absence I write to you, that those who do such works will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

To enumerate all the works of the flesh and compile a list of vices would be too long. Therefore the Apostle gathered them all together by saying: "and things like these." O that we could avoid them as easily as we notice them!

"Now the works of the flesh are evident." Again he calls fleshly-mindedness "flesh." "They are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, shameful conduct, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strifes, jealousies, wraths, outbursts, disputes, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, disorderly revelries, and things like these." It is clear that idolatry, sorcery, and the like belong not to the flesh but to the soul. Therefore he does not accuse the flesh, but carelessness in the disposition of thought. "Of these I forewarn you, as I also foretold, that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God." The divine Apostle said this also in the Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 6:9-10).

Since God is righteous, so long as such people do such things, they will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. But since God is also merciful, vicious people who cease troubling God by the deeds with which they test His patience, and who humbly correct themselves and now turn to God, will without doubt inherit the Kingdom of God.

If Christ had granted us complete freedom in every respect, and had freed us from every law whatever, what would keep us from pleasing our flesh? If we must not please the flesh, then we have not been freed from every law whatever. Not everything is permitted to us.

Therefore the freedom of which the Apostle speaks must be understood only as freedom from the law of Moses. In Christianity another law has taken the place of that law: the law of Christian faith and life.

Having then listed the works of the flesh, such as adultery, fornication, uncleanness, and the rest (cf. Gal 5:16), and the fruits of the Spirit, such as love, joy, peace, and the rest (Gal 5:16-18), St. Paul continues.

In listing the works of the flesh, “the Apostle names only the most prominent self-pleasing deeds, and in their coarsest and most repulsive form.

“The holy Apostle lists eighteen kinds of sinful works. Yet they are clearly divided into two halves: the works of the desiring power and the works of the incensive power.

“First the Apostle lists the evil works of the desiring power, and then those of the incensive power: enmities, strifes...”

“The last two, drunkenness and disorderly revels, are not added because the Apostle wished to complete the list of lustful works. Rather, in these two both lust and rage find satisfaction.

“A drunkard is ready both to commit shameful deeds and to quarrel. Likewise, at drinking feasts both lust and anger have free play” (Bishop Theophan).

for the Apostle is painting a picture from pagan life, and there were no divisions of this kind there. Rather, this is division in general, of whatever sort, only with a hostile and unfriendly spirit. Such people demand exile or death for their opponents.

Envy, φθονοι, is when people envy another’s happiness and are angry at everyone because it goes well for him. Yet it includes deadly hostility toward him, from which hatred breathes murder.

Murders, φονοι, is placed after φθονοι not merely because of the similarity of sound. It is so in the very nature of the matter: φθονος is fully satisfied in φονος. This is the height of hostile relations toward another. Cain is the example.