From: Galatians 5:1, 13-18
Christian Liberty
The Fruits of the Spirit and the Works of the Flesh
[16] But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. [17]
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are
against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing
what you would. [18] But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.
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Commentary:
1-3. The Law of Moses, which was divinely revealed, was something good; it sui-
ted the circumstances of the time. Christ came to bring this Law to perfection (cf.
notes on Mt 5:17-19 and Gal 5:14-15). All the elaborate legal and ritual prescrip-
tions in the Mosaic Law were laid down by God for a specific stage in Salvation
History, that is, the stage which ended with the coming of Christ. Christians are
under no obligation to follow the letter of that Law (cf. St Thomas Aquinas, “Sum-
ma Theologiae”, I-II, q. 108, a.3 ad 3).
Although in this letter to the Galatians the Apostle is emphasizing, as we have
seen, freedom from the Law of Moses, obviously this liberation cannot be entire-
ly disconnected from freedom in general. If someone submits to circumcision af-
ter being baptized, it amounts to subjecting oneself to a series of practices
which have now no value and to depriving oneself of the fruits of Christ’s Redemp-
tion. In other words, subjection to the Law brings with it a loss of freedom in ge-
neral. Paul is using the full might of his apostolic authority when he says, “If you
receive circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.” Christ’s Redemption
alone is effective; it has no need of the rites of the Old Testament.
14-15. To prepare the way for the coming of the Redeemer, God revealed to the
chosen people the fundamental principles of the natural law, because, as a result
of original sin and personal sins, mankind’s knowledge of these principles have
been obscured and weakened. The ten commandments which he revealed to Mo-
ses (Ex 20:1-21; Deut 5:6-22) traced out very clearly the way to follow to please
God and be saved (cf. Lev 18:5; Neh 9:29; etc.).
When the Savior came, the Decalogue continued in force, because it was part
of the natural law. Indeed, Christ reinforced it and showed that the key to and es-
sence of the ten commandments is Love—love of God, which necessarily brings
with it love of neighbor (cf. notes on Mt 22: 34-40 and Jn 13:34-35).
“It might also be asked”, St Augustine comments, “why the Apostle here speaks
only of love of neighbor, saying that this way the whole Law is fulfilled [...], when
in fact charity is perfect only if one practices the two precepts of love of God and
love of neighbor [...]. But who can love his neighbor, that is, all men, as himself,
if he does not love God, since it is only by God’s precept and gift that one can
love one’s neighbor? So, since neither precept can be kept unless the other be
kept, it is enough to mention one of them” (”Exp. in Gal.”, 45). See also the note
on Rom 13:8-10.
17-21. The fall of Adam and Eve left us with a tendency to seek created things
for our own pleasure, instead of using them to lead us to God. The desires of the
flesh make their appearance, urges which are at odds with God and with all that
is noble in our personality. But when grace enters our soul and justifies us, we
share in the fruits of the Redemption wrought by Christ and we are enabled to
conquer our concupiscence and life according to the flesh.
The vices referred to in vv. 19-21 have their roots in something much deeper —
life “of the flesh”. And, St Augustine asserts, “it is said that someone lives ac-
cording to the flesh when he lives for himself. Therefore, in this case, by ‘flesh’ is
meant the whole person. For everything which stems from a disordered love of
oneself is called work of the flesh” (”The City of God”, 14, 2).
This is why we find included in the “works of the flesh” not only sins of impurity
(v. 19) and faults of temperance (v. 21 ) but also sins against the virtues of reli-
gion and fraternal charity (v. 20).
“Significantly, when speaking of ‘the works of the flesh’ Paul mentions not only
‘immorality [fornication], impurity, licentiousness [...], drunkenness, carousing’
— all of which objectively speaking are connected with the flesh; he also names
other sins which we do not usually put in the ‘carnal’ or ‘sexual’ category — ‘ido-
latry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, envy’ [...]. All these sins are the
outcome of ‘life according to the flesh’, which is the opposite to ‘life according
to the spirit”’ (John Paul 11, “Address”, 7 January 1981).
Therefore, as the Apostle says, anyone who in one way or other obstinately per-
sists in his sin will not be able to enter the Kingdom of heaven (cf. 1 Cor 6:9-10;
Eph 5:5).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Luke 9:51-56
Some Samaritans Refuse to Receive Jesus
The Calling of Three Disciples
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Commentary:
51. “When the days drew near for Him to be received up”: these words refer to
the moment when Jesus will leave this world and ascend into Heaven. Our Lord
will say this more explicitly during the Last Supper: “I come from the Father and
have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father”
(John 16:28). By making His way resolutely to Jerusalem, towards His Cross,
Jesus freely complies with His Father’s plan for His passion and death to be the
route to His resurrection and ascension.
52-53. The Samaritans were hostile towards the Jews. This enmity derived from
the fact that the Samaritans were descendants of marriages of Jews with Gen-
tiles who repopulated the region of Samaria at the time of the Assyrian captivity
(in the eighth century before Christ). There were also religious differences: the
Samaritans had mixed the religion of Moses with various superstitious practices,
and did not accept the temple of Jerusalem as the only place where sacrifices
could properly be offered. They built their own temple on Mount Gerizim, in op-
position to Jerusalem (cf. John 4:20); this was why, when they realized Jesus
was headed for the Holy City, they refused Him hospitality.
54-56. Jesus corrects His disciples’ desire for revenge, because it is out of kee-
ping with the mission of the Messiah, who has come to save men, not destroy
them (cf. Luke 19:10; John 12:47). The Apostles are gradually learning that zeal
for the things of God should not be bitter or violent.
“The Lord does everything in an admirable way [...]. He acts in this way to teach
us that perfect virtue retains no desire for vengeance, and that where there is true
charity there is no room for anger—in other words, that weakness should not be
treated with harshness but should be helped. Indignation should be very far from
holy souls, and desire for vengeance very far from great souls” (St. Ambrose,
“Expositio Evangelii Sec. Lucam, in loc.”).
An RSV footnote after the word “rebuked” in verse 55 points out that other an-
cient authorities add “and He said ‘You do not know what manner of Spirit you
are of; for the Son of Man came not to destroy men’s lives but to save them’”.
These words appear in a considerable number of early Greek MSS and other
versions and were included in the Clementine Vulgate; but they do not appear
in the best and oldest Greek codexes and have not been included in the New
Vulgate.
57-62. Our Lord spells out very clearly what is involved in following Him. Being
a Christian is not an easy or comfortable affair: it calls for self-denial and for put-
ting God before everything else. See the notes on Matthew 8:18-22 and Matthew
8:22.
[The notes on Matthew 8:18-22 state:
18-22. From the very outset of His messianic preaching, Jesus rarely stays in
the same place; He is always on the move. He “has nowhere to lay His head”
(Matthew 8:20). Anyone who desires to be with him has to “follow Him”. This
phrase “following Jesus” has a very precise meaning: it means being His disci-
ple (cf. Matthew 19:28). Sometimes the crowds “follow Him”; but Jesus’ true dis-
ciples are those who “follow Him” in a permanent way, that is, who keep on fol-
lowing Him: being a “disciple of Jesus” and “following Him” amount to the same
thing. After our Lord’s ascension, “following Him” means being a Christian (cf.
Acts 8:26). By the simple and sublime fact of Baptism, every Christian is called,
by a divine vocation, to be a full disciple of our Lord, with all that that involves.
The evangelist here gives two specific cases of following Jesus. In the case of the
scribe our Lord explains what faith requires of a person who realizes that he has
been called; in the second case—that of the man who has already said “yes” to
Jesus—He reminds him of what His commandment entails. The soldier who does
not leave his position on the battlefront to bury his father, but instead leaves that
to those in the rearguard, is doing his duty. If service to one’s country makes de-
mands like that on a person, all the more reason for it to happen in the service
of Jesus Christ and His Church.
Following Christ, then, means we should make ourselves totally available to Him;
whatever sacrifice He asks of us we should make: the call to follow Christ means
staying up with Him, not falling behind; we either follow Him or lose Him. In the
Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) Jesus explained what following Him involves
—a teaching which we find summarized in even the most basic catechism of Chris-
tian doctrine: a Christian is a man who believes in Jesus Christ—a faith he receives
at Baptism — and is duty bound to serve Him. Through prayer and friendship with
the Lord every Christian should try to discover the demands which this service in-
volves as far as he personally is concerned.]
[The notes on Matthew 8:22 state:
22. “Leave the dead to bury their own dead”: although this sounds very harsh, it
is a style of speaking which Jesus did sometimes use: here the “dead” clearly re-
fers to those whose interest is limited to perishable things and who have no aspi-
rations towards the things that last forever.
“If Jesus forbade him,” St. John Chrysostom comments, “it was not to have us
neglect the honor due to our parents, but to make us realize that nothing is more
important than the things of Heaven and that we ought to cleave to these and not
to put them off even for a little while, though our engagements be ever so indispen-
sable and pressing” (”Hom. on St. Matthew”, 27).]
We see here the case of the man who wanted to follow Christ, but on one condi-
tion—that he be allowed to say goodbye to his family. Our Lord, seeing that he is
rather undecided, gives him an answer which applies to all of us, for we have all
received a calling to follow Him and we have to try not to receive this grace in vain.
“We receive the grace of God in vain, when we receive it at the gate of our heart,
and do not let it enter our heart. We receive it without receiving it, that is, we re-
ceive it without fruit, since there is no advantage in feeling the inspiration if we do
not accept it [...]. It sometimes happens that being inspired to do much we con-
sent not to the whole inspiration but only to some part of it, as did those good
people in the Gospel, who upon the inspiration which our Lord gave them to fol-
low Him wished to make reservations, the one to go first and bury his father, the
other to go to take leave of his people” (St. Francis de Sales, “Treatise on the
Love of God”, Book 2, Chapter 11).
Our loyalty and fidelity to the mission God has given us should equip us to deal
with every obstacle we meet: “There is never reason to look back (cf. Luke 9:62).
The Lord is at our side. We have to be faithful and loyal; we have to face up to our
obligations and we will find in Jesus the love and the stimulus we need to under-
stand other people’s faults and overcome our own” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Pas-
sing By”, 160).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.