Galatians 5:24Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Mt 22:30), and they advance in it. For this, let us again withdraw with you into the deserts. I shall speak with you again about those who struggle there, since I see that you listen to them with great pleasure. Let us now behold these spiritual armies. Let us behold pleasures disturbed by no fear. These ascetics live in tents like soldiers, but not with spears, shields, and breastplates. I stopped at this point in the preceding discourse. You will see that they have nothing of this kind. Yet they accomplish feats which others cannot accomplish even with weapons. If you are able to look upon these contests, give me your hand. We shall both go and behold this war and the ordered ranks of those soldiers. They too fight every day. They put enemies to death, and they conquer all the desires which usually overwhelm us. You will see their enemies cast down upon the earth and having no motion at all. You will see, in very deed, the fulfillment of the apostolic word: “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24). Do you see the multitude of corpses lying there, slain by the spiritual sword? That is why there is neither drunkenness nor satiety there. Their very table shows this, and so does the sign of victory set upon it. Drunkenness and satiety are conquered among them by drinking water. They lie cast down and dead. This is a many-shaped and many-headed beast. As in the fables of Scylla and Hydra, so drunkenness has many heads. Here fornication grows from it. There anger appears. Here come dullness of mind and heart. There comes shameful love. Among spiritual soldiers, all these enemies have been put to death. Ordinary soldiers, even if they win a thousand victories, are conquered by these enemies. Neither shields, nor spears, nor any other weapons can withstand the assault of these ranks. On the contrary, you will see those giants, those brave warriors, who have given countless proofs of their courage, bound without any fetters by sleep and drunkenness. Without any deadly blows or wounds, they lie as if wounded. Indeed, you will find them in a still worse state. The wounded at least still have movement. These men do not even have that. After defeat they suddenly become motionless. Do you now see that spiritual soldiers are far stronger than ordinary soldiers? They deserve greater admiration, because by will alone they put to death enemies by whom others are defeated. They so weaken the passion for drunkenness, the mother of all evils, that it no longer causes them any disturbance. Once the commander is overthrown and the head cut off, the whole body lies inactive. Moreover, in the spiritual army each soldier wins such a victory. Here it is not as in battles with external enemies. There, once someone has been wounded by one man and has fallen, he can no longer harm another. Here all must strike this beast. If a man has not himself dealt it a deadly blow and overthrown it, it does not cease troubling him in every way. Do you see the glorious victory of these soldiers? Each of them raises trophies which armies gathered from all the ends of the world cannot raise. They have cast away from themselves everything disorderly and senseless: foolish words, frenzied thoughts, unbearable pride, and everything by which drunkenness arms itself against man. They imitate their Master, of Whom Scripture says with wonder: “He shall drink from the brook on the way; therefore He shall lift up His head” (Ps 109:7). Do you wish to see many dead of another kind? Let us look at the desires that come from love of pleasure. Skilled cooks serve them by preparing various delicacies. I am ashamed to list them in detail. I shall mention only the birds brought from the banks of the Phasis, richly seasoned sauces, liquid and dry dishes, and the rules established for banquets. As governors of cities and commanders arrange soldiers in formation, so the lawgivers of banquets lay down rules. They appoint what must be served first and what afterward. Some first offer birds roasted over coals and stuffed with fish. Others begin these unlawful feasts with other dishes. They argue much about their quality, order, and quantity. They boast of what should make them ashamed. Some boast that they spent half a day at the banquet, others a whole day, and still others even the night. Look, poor man, how little food the stomach needs. Be ashamed of the immoderate care you take to fill it. Nothing of this kind exists among those angels. These desires and all others are dead in them. They take food not for satiety and pleasure, but to satisfy natural need. There are no fowlers or fishermen among them. They are content with bread and water. Confusion, noise, and disturbances are completely banished from there. In their dwellings, as in their bodies, there is great stillness. Among lovers of pleasure, by contrast, everything is disorder. Imagine the inside of their stomach. You will see a heap of refuse, a stream of uncleanness, and a whitewashed tomb. I am ashamed to speak of what follows: foul belching, vomiting, and evacuations from below and above. But there you will see not only these desires put to death. You will also see others, stronger still, which arise from them, namely sensual desires. You will see all of them cast down together with their horses and all their baggage. The baggage, weapons, and horses of shameful deeds are shameful words. But see: the horse, this rider, and the weapons lie in the dust. Among the slaves of sensuality you will see something altogether different, and their souls dead and cast down. Those holy men have won a splendid victory not only over gluttony, but also over the other passions: greed, love of glory, envy, and, in general, all the diseases of the soul. Do you not now see that these soldiers are stronger than the soldiers of an earthly king, and that their table is better than theirs? Who will contradict this? No one, not even the gluttons themselves, however senseless one of them may be. Truly, the table of holy men leads up to heaven, while the table of lovers of pleasure drags down to Gehenna. The devil prepares the latter, but Christ prepares the former. Love of pleasure and unbridled luxury give rules for the one. Love of wisdom and chastity give rules for the other. Christ dwells here, and the devil there. Where there is drunkenness, there is the devil. Where there is shameful speech and satiety, the demons rejoice. Such was the table of the rich man mentioned in the Gospel. For this reason, after death he was not given even one drop of water. By contrast, the desert dwellers care not for such a table, but for an angelic life. They neither marry nor give in marriage. They do not eat much, nor do they yield to softness. Except for the very few necessities unavoidable for bodily nature, they live as bodiless ones. Who can so easily overcome enemies if not the man who wins victory even while taking food? Therefore the prophet says: “You have prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies” (Ps 22:5). We shall not err if we apply these words also to this table. Indeed, nothing constricts the spirit so much as senseless desire, love of pleasure, drunkenness, and every evil that comes from them. Those who have experienced this know it well. If you also consider by what means this table is prepared, and by what means the table of lovers of pleasure is prepared, you will clearly see the difference between them. By what means is the table of lovers of pleasure prepared? By the shedding of many tears, by plundering the property of widows, and by robbing orphans. By contrast, the table of desert dwellers is prepared by righteous labors. The latter is like a beautiful and well-formed wife. She needs no external adornments, but has natural beauty. The former is like a vile and disgusting harlot. Though she uses various cosmetics, she cannot hide her ugliness. The closer she comes to someone, the more she reveals it. Such also is the table of lovers of pleasure. The closer you come to it, the more you will see its vileness. Therefore look at those who feast, not when they gather, but when they rise from the table. Then you will see all their foulness. The one table, being free, does not allow those at it to say anything shameful. The other, like a dishonorable harlot, does not allow anything chaste to be said. The one seeks the benefit of its companions. The other seeks their destruction. The one does not allow God to be offended. The other compels men to offend Him. Let us therefore go to those lovers of self-control. There we shall learn by how many bonds we are bound. There we shall learn to arrange a table filled with countless blessings. It is most sweet, requires no expense, is free from every care, envy, and slander, and is free from every disease. It is filled with good hopes and grants many victories. There are no disturbances of soul there. There are neither diseases nor anger. Everything is quiet. Everything is peaceful. Do not point me to the silence of servants in the houses of the rich. Rather, imagine the noise of the feasters. I do not mean the noise that comes from their conversations, though that too is worthy of ridicule. I mean the inner noise arising in the soul, which delivers them captive to many enemies. Imagine the rebellion, turmoil, darkness, and storm of their thoughts. Through it everything is thrown into confusion and disorder, as happens in a night battle. By contrast, in monastic dwellings there is nothing of this kind. There is great stillness and great silence. After the former table comes sleep like death. After the latter come sobriety and vigilance. The one subjects a man to torment. The other leads to the kingdom of heaven and immortal rewards. Let us therefore strive for this table, that we may enjoy its fruits. May we all be counted worthy of them by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.

It is written of carnal people that seeing they do not see, and hearing of divine things they do not understand them. They cannot receive what is spiritual, because it seems foolishness to them.

In the same way, reason about those who have the Spirit within themselves. Although they bear a body, they are not carnal, as the Apostle says: “You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Rom 8:9).

They are dead to the world, and the world is dead to them, as he says of them in his own person: “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14).

“Or do you not understand that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” (Rom 6:3).

“For as often as you eat this Bread and drink this Cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor 11:26).

“Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24).

How can we crucify our flesh with its passions and desires? ... We can crucify our flesh with its passions and desires by abstaining from the passions and desires, and by actions opposed to them.

For example, when anger urges us to slander an enemy and do him harm, we nevertheless resist this desire. Remembering how Jesus Christ prayed on the Cross for His enemies, we also pray for ours. In this way we crucify the passion of anger.

This kind of action is concluded with the Lord as a covenant in Baptism. The baptized person renounces Satan and all his works and is united to the Lord. This moral act is then sealed by grace in Baptism. For its sake the baptized person is given strength no longer to serve sin, but to reject it, hate it, and persecute it.

This is what it means that the baptized person dies to sin and lives for a new life of grace in the Lord. Elsewhere the Apostle calls this same thing the crucifixion of the old man and the abolition of the body of sin. That is, the whole body of sin is abolished, namely selfhood with the passions.

This is how the Christian, at the very time he becomes Christ's, crucifies his flesh with the passions and desires. Why does the Apostle mention this here? It is all for the fuller clarification of the subject under discussion, namely life in the spirit.

Life in the spirit, as was understood, is to stand with consciousness in the heart before the Lord. It means directing all one's works, inward and outward, toward pleasing God and the glory of the Lord. It also means rejecting, trampling down, and persecuting all wrong movements in thoughts and desires.

This rejection of inward unrighteousness is the crucifixion of selfhood, from which all unrighteousness comes. Thus the crucifixion of selfhood, or of the flesh, is an inseparable property of the spiritual life. Saint Chrysostom says: "Lest someone ask, Who are they, that is, those against whom there is no law, he points them out by their works. They are those who have crucified the flesh. For although the passions trouble them, they rise against them in vain and without success."

When it says, "they crucified," once for all, this means the moral turning in which the one approaching the Lord gives a vow not to yield to sin, even to the laying down of life. For this, power is also given in Baptism. Selfhood has been trampled down, rejected, and crucified. Afterward, though it approaches, it receives nothing. Each time it is trampled down with contempt and crucified.

The whole life of the Christian is the crucifixion of the flesh of sin. Yet this is the fruit and realization of that first act, by which selfhood was cast out of consciousness and freedom. It was deprived of every right to act as the determining force in deeds. Without that first act, the later acts cannot exist. They are joined as root and trunk are joined to branches.

Therefore the Apostle says, "crucified," as something done once. Yet there is such power in this act that it will suffice for an entire life.

Blessed Augustine well depicts that this crucifixion is not mechanical but moral. He derives the crucifying power from the fear of God reborn in the spirit. By this fear the beginning of conversion is laid down, and then the upright life of the convert is supported.

"By what have they crucified it, if not by the fear of God, pure and enduring unto ages of ages (cf. Ps 18:10)? In this fear we are afraid to offend Him Whom we love with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. The Prophet also desires to be crucified by this fear when he says: Nail my flesh with Thy fear (Ps 118:120). Fear crucifies on that cross of which the Lord says: Take up your cross and follow Me (cf. Mt 16:24)."