Galatians 5:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

In exactly the same way, for one who wishes to enter the New Covenant, it will do no harm that he has not kept all these bodily rites. Nor will it bring any benefit if he has kept them. What, then, does working through love mean? With these words the Apostle wounds them deeply. He shows that their departure from the truth happened because they had not yet been established in love for Christ. Here not only faith is needed, but also abiding in love. It is as though he said: If you loved Christ as you ought, you would not have turned aside to slavery. You would not have abandoned your Redeemer, nor offended your Liberator. Here he also points to those who plotted against them. He makes clear that, if they had love for them, they would not have dared to do this. Besides this, by these words he also wishes to correct their life.

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love." Those who desire to live in Christ Jesus must zealously seek the virtues and avoid vices. But what is indifferent, standing between virtues and vices, should neither be greatly desired nor avoided. Such are circumcision, uncircumcision, and the like.

Circumcision is useful only if one fulfills the Law. Therefore it is intelligible among those who lived under the Law, not because they were circumcised, but because the words of God were entrusted to them. When these words were turned into deeds among them, they did not remove them from salvation.

Let us not be disturbed that Zipporah took a sharp stone, circumcised her son, and turned away from her husband the Angel who wished to strangle him (Ex 4:24-27), or as it is otherwise written among the Hebrews. The Apostle bears witness that circumcision is not useful, not so much in itself, but because it has no power in Christ Jesus. That is, from the time when the Gospel shone like the sun throughout the whole world, the suffering of circumcision became superfluous.

Yet it had power, like the other precepts of the Law, when fleshly blessings were given to those who observed the Law. Therefore those who fulfilled it were blessed in the city, blessed in the field, had full granaries, and received many other things contained in the promises (Deut 28:1-14).

But we desire to have power and to be strengthened in Christ Jesus, that is, in true circumcision, and not in the Jewish cutting. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision the outward and visible one in the flesh. Rather, the Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the Spirit and not in the letter (Rom 2:28-29).

Therefore, in Christ circumcision of the flesh is of no help. What helps is circumcision of the ears and of the heart, to which the well-known rebuke against the Jews points: "Behold, your ears are uncircumcised, and you cannot hear." The circumcision of large lips is useful. Moses, in his humility, considers himself not yet to possess it, as it is written in the Hebrew text: "I have foreskin on my lips." Circumcision in the works of the flesh brings much benefit, since shamelessness is cut off through chastity.

Therefore, in Christ Jesus neither bodily circumcision nor bodily uncircumcision has power, because they stand in an indifferent position. They stand midway between virtues and vices. What has power is faith manifesting its activity in works. Thus the faith reckoned to Abraham as righteousness is approved, and every activity of faith is set in love, since the whole Law and the prophets depend on this commandment of love.

Indeed, on these two commandments, "Love your God" and "Love your neighbor," according to the unchanging word of the Savior, hang the Law and the Prophets. The Apostle Paul says elsewhere: "The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this saying: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Rom 13:9).

Therefore, if every commandment is summed up in what is said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," and faith enacted through love has the greatest power, it is clear that the enactment of faith through love contains the fullness of all the commandments.

But according to the Apostle James, faith without works is dead, if works, even though good, are regarded as dead without faith (Jas 2:14, 18). Consequently, what greater thing do those who do not believe in Christ possess, even if they have good morals, except works of virtue?

The Gospel harlot gives an example of faith enacted in love. When the Lord reclined in the house of the Pharisee, she washed His feet with tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with oil. When the Pharisee began to express indignation, the Lord set forth the parable of the debtor who owed fifty and five hundred denarii, and added at the end: "Therefore I tell you, her many sins are forgiven, for she loved much" (Lk 7:47). Turning to the woman herself, He said, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace" (Lk 7:50).

In this passage it is openly shown that this woman had faith enacted through love, which was of great value in Christ. But perhaps someone has raised a doubt about uncircumcision and says, "Does not uncircumcision have the same value?"

Yet if we attend to the fact that very many Christians, that is, our own people, who were grafted from the wild olive tree into the good olive tree (Rom 11:17-24), rise up against the fallen branches of the Jewish people and say that uncircumcision has greater power than circumcision. Because by the former Abraham pleased God, and his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness, while the latter was given only as a sign of faith and did not help Israel, which possessed it, then we shall see that even this claim of certain persons has now been very carefully removed by the holy Apostle.

For two things most surely correct all life, fulfill every law, and contain all that is prescribed in the Ten Commandments. Whoever keeps faith necessarily also keeps love. These two things, faith and love, fulfill everything prescribed by the law of Christ.

Here everything is decided by faith with love. Bishop Theophan, explaining the word working, says: This word can mean active and acted upon. The first meaning gives the thought that faith leads to love, arouses it, and enlivens it. The second gives the thought that faith is aroused and vivified by love. Both show that faith and love are inseparable in the life of a Christian. From the moment they are separated, true life begins to die out. Blessed Jerome also says: If all the commandments are contained in one, You shall love your neighbor, then by inserting this notion into the words faith working through love, we clearly see that this working of faith through love embraces the fullness of all the commandments. This is why the most exact definition of the essence of Christianity is seen here (Bishop Theophan).

He does not approach the circumcised man with greater favor insofar as he is circumcised. He does not turn His face away from the uncircumcised man insofar as he is uncircumcised. With Him everything is decided by faith joined with love. You have approached the Lord, been enlightened by holy baptism, and received the pledge of the Spirit Who builds you up. Now preserve faith and live in love. This is all that is required of you. By this path you will safely reach the end of life and pass over to the Lord. Dwelling in His mansions, you will be blessed with Him forever. Why bind yourselves with these statutes of life under the Law? Cast all this away. Serve God through the Spirit and please Him spiritually, without entangling yourselves in anything external. In the Christian who is built up by the Spirit of God, everything proceeds from a heart full of faith and breathing love. This inner life necessarily expresses itself outwardly as well. But this outward expression, in itself, is nothing before God. Its worth comes from the spirit with which it is done. Thus, if you take life as a whole, and you have the inner life alone when it is impossible to act outwardly in accordance with it, you have everything. If you have only the outward, by custom or imitation, without the inward, you have nothing. All your outward life, however fair it may appear, avails nothing in Christ Jesus. This, then, is the chosen one of Christ. This is the one pleasing to God in Christ Jesus: the one who is full of faith and breathes love. Circumcision and uncircumcision are nothing here. Chrysostom says: "See how he rejected circumcision, placing it alongside uncircumcision. For only faith makes the difference. If someone is selecting wrestlers, whether they are black or white makes no difference in the choice. One must look for this, that they be strong and skilled in their craft. So too, for one who wishes to enter the New Covenant, it does him no harm that he has not observed all those bodily rites. Likewise, if he has observed them, it brings him no benefit. Here everything is decided by faith with love." "Faith working through love," energoumene. This word can mean both acting and being acted upon. The first meaning gives this thought: faith leads to love, awakens it, and enlivens it. The second gives this thought: faith is awakened and enlivened by love. Both show that faith and love are inseparable in the life of the Christian. Love finds enlivening principles in faith, and faith in love. Hearing the Gospel, they believe in the Lord. Having believed, they love Him and all for His sake. Having loved, they believe all the more and are established in faith. Faith, strengthened in turn, raises love higher. Thus the life of the Christian matures. From the moment they are separated, true life begins to die down. With complete separation, life itself withers entirely. A Christian remains a Christian only in name and by certain outward works. In reality he has become a Jew, expecting to be justified by outward membership in the Church of God. Oecumenius writes: "It is not enough merely to believe in Christ. This faith must also be acted upon, preserved, and as it were warmed by love for Christ. Those who believe in Christ but are not filled with love for Him pass over to the Law." One may also say: they enter the rank of those under the Law. What love is meant here? Since it is not added to whom, one must understand love both for the Lord and for fellow Christians. Being joined to the Lord by the Spirit of grace through faith, the Christian draws from Him the fullness of love. By its nature this love demands outpouring, and so it all goes forth to the fellow members of the one body in Christ. It goes forth to the brotherly Christian society, with self-forgetfulness or self-denial. Everything here is built up and joined together of itself. External prescriptions do not compel it. Such is the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Chrysostom speaks only of love for Christ: "What does 'working through love' mean? By these words the Apostle wounds them deeply, showing that their deviation from the truth arose because they had not yet been established in love for Christ. Here not only faith is required, but also abiding in love. It is as though he said: if you loved Christ as you ought, you would not have turned aside to slavery. You would not have abandoned the Redeemer. You would not have insulted the Liberator." Blessed Theophylact also points to love for neighbors. "Or the Apostle also suggests love for neighbors to them, as though saying: know that faith is made active through love, that is, it is shown to be alive through love. Faith that does not have love is inactive. This is the same as the words: 'Faith without works is dead'" (Jas. 2:26). Blessed Jerome understands by love the whole sum of the virtues. "Those who desire to live in Christ must seek all the virtues and flee all the vices. The Apostle Paul says elsewhere: 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (cf. Rom. 13:9). Therefore, if all the commandments are contained in one, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," then insert this concept into the words "faith working through love." We shall clearly see that this working of faith through love embraces the fullness of all the commandments. Conversely, as according to the Apostle James, faith without works is dead, so good works without faith must be considered dead. Those who do not believe in Christ, though they are morally good, what do they have except works of virtue? Therefore they are nothing before the Lord, since they are unbelievers. The Gospel harlot offers an example of faith working through love. In the Pharisee's house she washed the Lord's feet with tears, wiped them with her hair, and anointed them with myrrh. Of her the Lord said: "Her many sins are forgiven, for she loved much." To her He Himself pronounced: "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace" (cf. Lk. 7:47-50). Clearly, this shows that the woman had faith aided by love. This alone has worth in Christ Jesus."