True Freedom

"You, brothers and sisters, were called to enjoy freedom; I am not speaking of that freedom which gives free rein to the desires of the flesh, but of that which makes you slaves of one another through love.  For the whole Law is summed up in this sentence: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  But if you bite and tear each other to pieces, be careful lest you all perish.

Therefore, I say to you: walk according to the Spirit and do not give way to the desires of the flesh!  For the desires of the flesh war against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are opposed to the flesh.  Both are in conflict with each other, so that you cannot do everything you would like.  But when you are led by the Spirit you are not under the Law.

You know what comes from the flesh, fornication, impurity and shamelessness, idol worship and sorcery, hatred, jealousy and violence, anger, ambition, division, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like.  I again say to you what I have already said: those who do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of GOD.

But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy and peace, patience, understanding of others, kindness and fidelity, gentleness and self-control.  For such things there is no Law or punishment.  Those who belong to CHRIST have crucified the flesh with its vices and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us live in a spiritual way.  Let us not be conceited; let there be no rivalry or envy of one another." - Galatians 5:13-26 

(If the Galatians are looking out for religious practices it is partly because they feel that faith should be expressed in a concrete way.  Here Paul tells them: if you are anxious for putting faith into life, look at your community life.  We, like them, are terribly accustomed to a double life: on one hand we proclaim 

Paul rightly gives a short list of the works of the flesh and another of the fruits of the Spirit.  He places side by side idolatry and the ambitions or divisions so common in religious and practicing groups.  It is clear that for him flesh and spirit are not the same as "body" and "soul": the pettiness and attachment to our privileges are also sins of the flesh, that is of people alien to the Spirit.)

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