🇬🇧 Glory be to Jesus Christ! 🌞
Galatians V, 13 – ‘ελευθερια’ – ‘eleutheria’ - ‘freedom, liberty’. ‘ελευθεριαν’ – ‘eleutherian’ – ‘freedom, liberty’ (in the accusative).
Galatians V, 16 – ‘τελεσητε’ – ‘telesete’ – (not) complete,
accomplish, fulfil; pay
. In other words, Paul means that believers will
not lead a sinful (carnal
) lifestyle, but a spiritual, spiritualised
one, will not be debtors to the flesh
(i.e., fleshly desires will not
weigh on them).
Galatians V, 17 – ‘θελητε’ – ‘thelete’ – ‘desire’. Here the word
desire
refers to a simple, undivided and non-ambivalent desire, whole
and holistic. Since the struggle between the good and the sinful in a
person breaks down this integrity, it ruins ‘will’ in this sense as a
holistic desire, a non-ambivalent desire and feeling, a value. That is
why Paul says that such a divided person leads to the fact that they do
not do what they desire
. Conversely, the ability to be a holistic
person in desires and actions is a gift from God, when the person is
free from temptations, explicit or implicit. It is also where we can see
the origins of the Church’s teaching on the so-called natural will
,
which was dogmatically approved at the VI Ecumenical Council in
680-681.
Continuation of yesterday’s reading, which was referred to here:
18092023.html
Also a continuation of this reading is the one referred to here:
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/
When Paul speaks of persecution, he is referring to the Jews. It was
mostly Jews who persecuted Christians at that time. If Paul had preached
circumcision and the Law of Moses in all its aspects, including the
rituals, among the Gentiles, then he would have been a preacher of
Judaism of that time, and the Jews would not have persecuted him, but
would have appreciated him. But Paul preached the Crucified and Risen
Jesus Christ, and because of this he was persecuted by the Jews. It is
precisely this kind of preaching that Paul calls here the temptation
(for unbelievers) of the Cross
.
Paul is ready to recognise the importance of Judaism, but in comparison with paganism, Judaism is significantly less important than faith in Christ. That is why Paul says that if someone converted the Gentiles of Galatia to Judaism, encouraged them to be circumcised, being a circumcised Jew himself, it would be better than remaining in paganism for Galatians (Jews believe in the One God). But Paul preached to Galatians who had become Christians, so there was no need for them to become Jews.
Paul calls this freedom (there is no need for the rituals of the Law,
so it is freedom from the Law
).
Christians need to focus their attention on love for God and people,
and not live in sin. See also more here:
21062023.html
And for this we need to live in grace, in the Holy Spirit. There will be more about Him in the following verses, see the link above, but here Paul reminds the Galatians that those who are heavily sinning Christians will not inherit the Kingdom of God unless they are converted and repent. The list is incomplete, but it is expressive.
Mark VII, 6, 11 – ‘εμου’ – ‘emou’ – ‘Me’.
A continuation of yesterday’s reading, which also has a part in
common with it, which is referred to here:
18092023.html
There, as well as in the reference to the parallel passage in Matthew, the meaning of Jesus’ words is explained.
The conclusion of the reading is connected to the next one, which will be discussed tomorrow.
Here, I will focus only on the fact that Christ says that the
external (here, actually, food) cannot really make a person defiled,
unclean, but what a person does, what they desire, what comes from
within, makes a person unclean if it is deeply sinful. The apostle Paul
explains this idea in more detail in his letters, in particular, he says
that food can be unclean because of a person’s conscience, but it is not
unclean in itself. See also the following links:
27072023.html
03042023.html
25022023.html
19022023.html
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!