Galatians 5:24

5:16-26 If it be our care to act under the guidance and power of the blessed Spirit, though we may not be freed from the stirrings and oppositions of the corrupt nature which remains in us, it shall not have dominion over us. Believers are engaged in a conflict, in which they earnestly desire that grace may obtain full and speedy victory. And those who desire thus to give themselves up to be led by the Holy Spirit, are not under the law as a covenant of works, nor exposed to its awful curse. Their hatred of sin, and desires after holiness, show that they have a part in the salvation of the gospel. The works of the flesh are many and manifest. And these sins will shut men out of heaven. Yet what numbers, calling themselves Christians, live in these, and say they hope for heaven! The fruits of the Spirit, or of the renewed nature, which we are to do, are named. And as the apostle had chiefly named works of the flesh, not only hurtful to men themselves, but tending to make them so to one another, so here he chiefly notices the fruits of the Spirit, which tend to make Christians agreeable one to another, as well as to make them happy. The fruits of the Spirit plainly show, that such are led by the Spirit. By describing the works of the flesh and fruits of the Spirit, we are told what to avoid and oppose, and what we are to cherish and cultivate; and this is the sincere care and endeavour of all real Christians.

Sin does not now reign in their mortal bodies, so that they obey it, Ro 6:12, for they seek to destroy it. Christ never will own those who yield themselves up to be the servants of sin. And it is not enough that we cease to do evil, but we must learn to do well. Our conversation will always be answerable to the principle which guides and governs us, Ro 8:5. We must set ourselves in earnest to mortify the deeds of the body, and to walk in newness of life. Not being desirous of vain-glory, or unduly wishing for the esteem and applause of men, not provoking or envying one another, but seeking to bring forth more abundantly those good fruits, which are, through Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God.

Galatians 5:24 . And they that are Christ’s — Who are true believers in him, and therefore possessed of union with him, and shall be finally owned as belonging to him; have crucified the flesh — Have doomed it to a certain death, like the body of one that is nailed to a cross, and left to expire upon it; with the affections and lusts — All its evil passions, appetites, and inclinations. The word affections, or passions, as παθηματα should rather be rendered, as distinguished from the lusts of the flesh, are pride, self-will, discontent, anger, malice, envy, revenge. “This is a beautiful and affecting allusion to our Lord’s sufferings on the cross. The restraining of our fleshly lusts may be very painful to us, as the word crucify implies. But the same word, by putting us in mind of Christ’s suffering much greater pain for us, touches all the generous feelings of the heart, and excites us, from gratitude to him, to disregard the pain which so necessary a duty may occasion to us.”

They that are Christ’s; those who are ingrafted into Christ by faith, united to him, and so his members; have crucified the flesh; by virtue of a power derived from the cross of Christ, have got their unregenerate part in a great measure mortified; with the affections and lusts; with the inordinate desires, affections, and passions of it: not that they have wholly put off these, (they are men still), but the inordinateness of them is corrected, mortified, and subdued.

Galatians 5:24 . Οἱ δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ , Moreover they who are Christ’s ) He resumes the proposition laid down at Galatians 5:18 .— τὴν σάρκα , the flesh ) of which Galatians 5:19-20 .— ἐσταύρωσαν , have crucified ) They do so with Christ , Romans 6:6 , by having received baptism and faith. They have it crucified at present [they have the flesh now in a state of crucifixion]. Supply, and the Spirit is strong within them. This is included in Galatians 5:24 from Galatians 5:22 .— παθήμασι , with the passions ) The lusts spring from the passions , and are nourished by them. The affections and appetites both deserve the same punishment as the flesh . [The passions are those that are violent, boisterous, and outrageous . The lusts, on the contrary, calmly seek after what is calculated to minister food to the senses .—V. g.]

Galatians 5:24 . ἐσταύρωσαν . The Apostle has already traced back his own spiritual life to the fellowship with the crucifixion of Christ, which he had undergone at his conversion ( Galatians 2:20 ). He assumes that his converts have likewise crucified the will of the flesh—not, however (as the previous context shows), that that will is already dead, but that the spirit has by one decisive victory asserted its complete supremacy in all true Christians, and so given an earnest of its entire triumph in the end.— παθήμασιν . This word departs here from its usual meaning, sufferings , and expresses inward emotions, as in Romans 7:5 . Greek philosophers applied πάθος in like manner to denote active impulses of passion.

They that are Christ's (οἱ δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ) The best texts add Ἱησοῦ they that are of Christ Jesus. Belong to him. The exact phrase only here. But see 1 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Corinthians 3:23; 1 Corinthians 15:23; 2 Corinthians 10:7, Galatians 3:29. Have crucified the flesh (τὴν σάρκα ἐσταύρωσαν) The phrase only here. Comp. Galatians 2:20; Galatians 6:14; Romans 6:6. The line of thought as regards death to sin is the same as in Romans 6:2-7, Romans 6:11; as regards death to the law, the same as in Romans 7:1-6. Affections (παθήμασιν) Better, passions. Often sufferings, as Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 1:5, 2 Corinthians 1:6, 2 Corinthians 1:7; Philippians 3:10; Hebrews 2:9. Often of Christ's sufferings. Comp. passions of sins, Romans 7:5 (see on motions). olxx, where we find πάθος in both senses, but mostly sufferings. Πάθος also in N.T., but rarely and Po. See Romans 1:26; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:5 : always of evil desires.

24. The oldest manuscripts read, "They that are of Christ Jesus"; they that belong to Christ Jesus; being "led by (His) Spirit" (Ga 5:18). have crucified the flesh—They nailed it to the cross once for all when they became Christ's, on believing and being baptized (Ro 6:3, 4): they keep it now in a state of crucifixion (Ro 6:6): so that the Spirit can produce in them, comparatively uninterrupted by it, "the fruit of the Spirit" (Ga 5:22). "Man, by faith, is dead to the former standing point of a sinful life, and rises to a new life (Ga 5:25) of communion with Christ (Col 3:3). The act by which they have crucified the flesh with its lust, is already accomplished ideally in principle. But the practice, or outward conformation of the life, must harmonize with the tendency given to the inward life" (Ga 5:25) [Neander]. We are to be executioners, dealing cruelly with the body of sin, which has caused the acting of all cruelties on Christ's body. with the affections—Translate, "with its passions." Thus they are dead to the law's condemning power, which is only for the fleshly, and their lusts (Ga 5:23).

(24) But such things are just what the Christian would do. He will have nothing to make him act differently. He will not need to be taught peaceableness, goodness, or self-control, for the impulses which run counter to these are dead within him: they were killed at the moment when he gave himself up wholly to a crucified Saviour. And.—Better, How, or But; introducing a summary conclusion from what has gone before, applying it to the Christian. They that are Christ’s.—The reading of the oldest MSS. is, they that are of Christ Jesus. The Messianic character of the Christian scheme is put forward prominently: “they that belong to Jesus, the Messiah.” Have crucified the flesh.—Strictly, crucified: viz., in their baptism. A full comment on this expression is afforded by Romans 6:2-14, where see Notes. The relation into which the Christian is brought with Christ is such as to neutralise and deaden all the sensual impulses within him; and inasmuch as the central point in that relation is the crucifixion: inasmuch, further, as crucifixion is death, and the Christian is bound to make the death of his Master his own, so far as relates to sin, he is said not merely to “kill” but to “crucify” the flesh, with its evil appetites and passions. Affections and lusts.—Passions and desires. “Affections” are passive—susceptibility to evil impressions; “lusts” active—desire for that which is forbidden.

24 . they that are Christ’s ] They who belong to Christ, who are His by redemption—or perhaps as in Galatians 3:29 , who are part of Christ. The same expression occ. 1 Corinthians 15:23 . The R.V. reads ‘They that are of Christ Jesus ’, which has the support of the earlier MSS. have crucified ] The aorist may be rendered strictly—‘crucified’; in which case the reference will be to their conversion and baptism. But in many passages of the N. T. this tense must be represented in translation by the English perfect as its true equivalent. Crucifixion is a lingering mode of death; and though the reception of Baptism was an overt and initial act by which the deeds of the body were mortified, yet such mortification is continued daily through the whole of the believer’s earthly life. It only ceases when he is ‘delivered from the burden of the flesh’. Compare the prayer for the newly baptized in the Office for Baptism: ‘that he being dead unto sin … may crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the whole body of sin’. the affections and lusts ] ‘its passions and appetites’. See Trench, N. T. Syn . p. 311, foll.

And they that are Christ's - All who are true Christians. Have crucified the flesh - The corrupt passions of the soul have been put to death; that is, destroyed. They are as though they were dead, and have no power over us; see the note at Galatians 2:20. With the affections - Margin, "Passions." All corrupt desires. And lusts - See the note at Romans 1:24.