Galatians 5
DODDGalatians 5:2-15
The apostle urges them more resolutely to retain the doctrine of justification by Divine grace; and renews his caution against the efforts of those seducing teachers who had done so much to alienate their minds from it. Gal. V. 2—15.
GAL V. 2. BEHOLD, I Paul say unto you, That if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
GALATIANS V. 2.
I HAVE exhorted you, as children of the promise, and born, not of the bond woman, but the free, to maintain your Christian liberty, and guard against the encroachments of those who would break in upon it. And I now plainly tell you, that I particularly mean those Judaizing teachers with whom the church is at present so much infested: in reference to whose tenets, behold, I Paul, whatever may have falsely been suggested of my favouring their sentiments and sometimes preaching circumcision, expressly say unto you, That if ye, who are by birth and education Gentiles, submit to be circumcised, with a dependence on the observation of those Jewish rites to which ye are thereby obliged for your justification before God, Christ shall profit you nothing, and all that he hath done and suffered will be of no advantage
ix. Gal. v. 2
If ye be circumcised, with a dependence himself in circumcising Timothy. (Acts on the observation, &c] Common sense xvi. 3.) And this accounts for the indifference with which he elsewhere speaks of such limits; which is also necessary to circumcision as availing nothing. See chap. reconcile it with the hopes of all Jewish v. 6; vi. 15; and 1 Cor. vii. 19. believers, and with the conduct of St Paul
to you: for if the whole confidence of the soul do not rest upon him for salvation, he will reject those divided regards which are offered to him, and interpret them as an affront rather than an acceptable homage. And I repeat it as a point of the highest importance, which is agreeable to what I have always preached, and do now testify again to every particular man among you who is circumcised, in the view I have just been mentioning, with a dependence on that rite for justification, that he is thereby become a debtor to do the whole law: for as circumcision binds a man fully to observe all the other rituals of the Mosaic dispensation, so will the tenet which I now oppose leave you under the rigour of that covenant which required perfect and sinless obedience, and left every wilful transgressor under a curse, from which by the law he could never be delivered. It is therefore evident that Christ is become of none effect to such of you, but must have appeared and died in vain as to any benefit you would have by him, whosoever of you are seeking to be justified by the works of the law; yea by this means, whatever your profession may have been of a regard to Christ, ye are indeed fallen from the grace of the gospel, and have in effect renounced your expectations from it. For we who are true Christians, and have been savingly enlightened in the knowledge of the truth, do, through the influences of the Spirit, whose gifts and graces are so glorious a seal of the gospel, want for the hope of righteousness and life, not on account of any claim or title we have to it by our obedience to the law, but by a sincere and operative faith, casting our souls on Christ as condemned creatures who have no hope in themselves, and trusting in the grace of God for justification through the redemption he has wrought. And herein we act according to the true tenor of the gospel; for in the dispensation of grace by Christ, Jesus to those who would obtain salvation by him, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, and no man will either be saved or condemned for being or not being circumcised; but our interest in the blessings of the gospel depends upon a sincere aith in Christ, which operates by an
d taught, however they were now perverted.
unfeigned love to God and man,ᵇ and so engages us, from a principle of holy gratitude, to yield a sincere obedience to all the known will of God, renouncing any dependence on that obedience, how complete soever it may seem, as the meritorious cause of our acceptance with him.
This is true genuine Christianity; and you once received it as such, and appeared to be under the influence of it: in regard to which I may say, Ye did once run well at your first setting out in the Christian race, and seemed to exert yourselves in a very happy manner; who then of late has hindered youᶜ from obeying the truth, with that readiness and perseverance which might reasonably have been expected from so hopeful a beginning, and has turned you out of the way in which you were making so fair a progress? Of this I am sure, that the persuasion you now seem to have entertained of the necessity of mixing Judaism with Christianity, and seeking justification, in part at least, by Mosaical observances, [comes] not from him that called you into the profession of the gospel;ᵈ nor did I teach you any such lesson when I was made the happy instrument of bringing you to the Christian faith, but have largely and earnestly inculcated the contrary. There were indeed some secret workings of this pernicious principle which I now oppose, that early became visible among you; and I find they have spread in such a manner, as to shew that a little leaven, if it be suffered to continue, operates unseen, till it diffuseth itself on every side, and leaveneth the whole mass. But having laid the matter thus before you, and warned you of the
ᵇ Faith which operates by love.] There is some degree of ambiguity in the original expression, δι’ ἀγαπής εὐσχετεύον, which is capable of being differently rendered, and may signify either which operates and works by love, or which is wrought, inspired, and perfected by love; which latter sense some have preferred, and have taken occasion from hence to shew how much charity tends to establish and perfect faith. But I prefer the more usual sense, which I think to be authorized by the use of the same word, Eph. iii. 20, and Col. i. 29.
ᶜ Who hath hindered you?] It hath been observed that ἀνεκινή is an Olympic expression, answerable to ἐμοχῆ, and it properly signifies coming across the course while person is running in it in such a manner as to jostle and throw him out of the way.
ᵈ From him that called you.] This expression of him that called, or calleth you, agrees with what he had used before, chap. i. 6; and in both places it would seem he means himself. See note ᵉ on the passage, sect. i.
VOL. 5
The apostle was so far from preaching circumcision,
danger of this leaven, with that fidelity and zeal which love to your souls and a regard to the honour of Christ requires, I have this confidence in you through the grace of the Lord Jesus, on whom I humbly depend for the influences of his Spirit, and to whose blessing I commit all my endeavours, that ye will be no otherwise minded, and entertain no other sentiments, as to what is necessary to your justification, than ye have been taught by me: but he that troubleth you, and would pervert your minds from the purity of the faith, shall certainly bear [his] judgment of deserved censure here, and, if he persist in his evil, of weighty condemnation hereafter, whosoever he be: God will judge him at last for a conduct like this, and in the mean time he has reason to apprehend my animadverting upon him with that apostolical authority which some of my adversaries have found to their cost they were unable to resist. (Compare Acts xiii. 10, 11; 1 Cor. v. 4, 5; 2 Cor. x. 6, 8; xiii. 10; and 1 Tim. i. 20.)
I know there are some who have insinuated, as if I myself favoured the very principles elsewhere which I so much oppose among you; but I leave it to you, my brethren, when you consider the treatment I have met with from these zealots, to judge if the contrary do not evidently appear. For if I yet preach the necessity of circumcision, and insist upon submitting to it in order to salvation, why do I still suffer such grievous persecution, as it is evident to the whole world I endure, by the malice of the Jews, who are every where endeavouring to raise, not only prejudices, but tumults against
He that troubleth you shall bear [his] judgment, whosoever he be.] Some think that the apostle here refers to one particular man, who was more forward than the rest, and had been chiefly instrumental in corrupting them: but by his adding at the close, whosoever he be, he seems to intend it as a general declaration; which best agrees with what follows in ver. 12, and what he elsewhere says in this epistle, where he speaks always of their seducing teachers in the plural number (see chap. 5. 7; iv. 17; vi. 12, 13) And when he thus declares, that whosoever he be that troubleth
them he shall bear his judgment, though some would understand this only of the censure which the church should pass upon him, or of the punishment he should suffer when St. Paul came to exert his apostolical authority, of which we have several instances elsewhere; (see note 1, on 1 Cor. iv. 21, Vol. IV p. 234;) yet it is reasonable to extend it to the solemn account he should give to God, and to the condemnation he should certainly receive if he persisted in the endeavours he was using to subvert the truth.
that he wishes them cut off who urged them to do it.
me? Then surely, if it be true that I agree with them on this head, the offence taken at the doctrine of salvation by the cross of Christ is ceased; and in effect I give up that which I have been so long contending for, and they have as eagerly been struggling against. But I am so far from agreeing with them, that I could wish they were even cut off entirely from the communion of the Christian church, and cast out of it as unworthy members, who thus unsettle your minds, and disturb you, by so many false suggestions and irregular methods, as do indeed well deserve such a censure.
This might be a means of restoring to the church that peace which is so agreeable to the principles of our common religion and calling; for it is manifest, my brethren, ye have been called by the gospel to liberty and freedom from the bondage of the Mosaic ceremonies: only see to it, that ye [abuse] not this liberty for an occasion of unwarrantable indulgence to any irregular appetites of the flesh, as if we were set free from the observance of the moral precepts of the law; and remember that it is not only consistent with that liberty, but greatly subservient to it, that ye should look upon yourselves as bound, by the exercise of the most cordial mutual love, to serve one another. For all the law with which we Christians have any concern, so far as it relates to our fellow creatures, is fulfilled in the observation of one word or precept, [even] in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, and treat him as in a change of circumstances thou wouldst reasonably expect and desire to be treated by him. But if, instead of cultivating these Christian and humane sentiments, ye indulge a fierce and savage disposition, so as to bite and devour one
I could wish they were even cut off who disturb you.] It by no means agrees with the gentle genius of Christianity, to suppose that the apostle (who understood it to well, and cultivated it so much) should mean by this to intimate that he wished them dead, or wished that any bodily evil were inflicted upon them by human violence. All arguments therefore which
are drawn from this text in favour of persecuting principles must be very inconclusive. But when we consider the particular circumstances in which these seducing teachers opposed the apostle, it will appear that they very well deserved that ecclesiastical censure which according to the paraphrase he here wishes to be pronounced against them.
Reflections on our obligations to mutual love.
another, it will be necessary to take heed that ye other, take heed that ix. be not destroyed by one another, as wild beasts ye be not consumed Gal. sometimes worry one another till both are one of another. v. 15 slain: at least it is certain, that by these mutual contentions you take the readiest way to disgrace, and so far as in you lies to overthrow, the religion to which you profess a regard.
IMPROVEMENT.
How awful is the supposition which the apostle makes, even with regard to those who had distinguished themselves by so zealous a profession; to those before whose eyes Christ had been evidently set forth as crucified, (chap. iii. 1.) and who would once have been ready to have plucked out their own eyes for the minister that preached him to them; (chap. iv. 15;) that he should speak of it with regard to such as a possible case, that on 2 the whole Christ might profit them nothing! Let our souls dread the thought of being in the number of those to whom he shall be thus unprofitable. How heavy will our account be, and how dearly shall we pay for the amusements of the sublimest knowledge, or the most sanguine hopes we entertain, if this be the end of all! That we may none of us be so unhappy, let us be very careful that we do 4 not think of seeking justification by the law in such a manner as to fall from grace: but as no right or title to it can be obtained 5 but by an interest in Christ, let us through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness and life, by faith in him. May the blessed Spirit of God form and support in our minds such an hope; which, if it be thus formed, will never make us ashamed. (Rom. v. 5.) Let us be therefore animated by it; and if at first we 7 have run well, let us always consider the dispatch we may have made already in our Christian race, as an excitement to farther vigour, rather than an encouragement to indolence and sloth. 6 Let the Spirit which these and so many other parts of the New Testament breathe, teach us to moderate our zeal about circumcision and uncircumcision, about the rituals and externals of religion, and to cultivate more and more that faith which operates by love, and therefore will express itself by keeping the 13 commandments of God. This will engage us, by the best and most generous principles, to serve one another in our truest interests, and to fulfil that royal law which is comprehended in 14 this one important word, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Surely we have not as yet attained to perfection in this excellent grace; sure there is room for new attainments, even in the best. But O, how lamentably deficient are the generality of Christians! yea rather, how scandalously and how fatally hath the opposite
The apostle exhorts them to walk in the Spirit,
principle prevailed! so that, instead of that mutual love, of which our gracious Redeemer was the great teacher and example, the contrary principle of hatred and malignity hath triumphed to such a degree, as to turn the church into a camp of warriors, or rather (as it may be called) into a theatre of wild beasts, where they have been worrying one another almost to death, yea in many instances biting and devouring one another, till they have actually been destroyed one by another. Let us take heed, after all the Christian and the protestant interest hath suffered by these fatal divisions, that we do not catch the contagion, and bear our part in so common, yet so pernicious a mischief. It is a spreading evil, and a little of this leaven often diffuses itself over the whole mass; but nothing is more manifest than that it is a persuasion, which is so far from coming of him that called us, that it is indeed the most direct violation of his distinguishing precept.
Let us remember that the time will come, when he that troubleth the church, either in one way, by unscriptural impositions, to which the apostle here refers, or in another, by an unreasonable stiffness about things indifferent, will certainly bear his judgment, whosoever he be. Let us therefore rather choose to suffer persecution than to share in such guilt; and be continually praying for that Divine wisdom which may teach us so to bear afflictions as not to increase the offence of the cross, and so to stand fast in our liberty as not to abuse it for an occasion to gratify those irregular passions, which, to whatever high original they may pretend, are indeed to be traced no higher than a carnal principle, and to be numbered among the works of the flesh.
Galatians 5:16
He exhorts the Galatians to a conversation suitable to the dispensation of grace which they had received, and warning them against the several vices of the flesh, recommends to them the habitual practice of the graces of the Spirit, and presses them in particular to purity, spirituality, and mutual love. Gal. V. 16, to the end.
GAL. V. 16. THIS I say I HAVE been cautioning you against that contentious temper which is so great a reproach to the professors of Christianity, and tends so much to the detriment of our common faith. But, that I may effectually guard you against this and every other evil, I have a charge to give you, and in one word I say, Walk in the Spirit, and at all times endeavour to conduct yourselves as under the influences of that blessed
In opposition to the workings of the e ECT. Agent, and in a way agreeable to the new na- X. ture he hath given you, and then we will not Gal. fulfil the lust of the flesh; but notwithstanding v. 16 the remainders of corruption in you, yet by his powerful suggestions, and by the gracious aids that you receive from him, you will be happily preserved from the predominance of carnal and irregular appetites, so that the work of mortification, and all the exercises of true godliness, will daily become more and more easy and familiar to you. 17 And this precaution is absolutely necessary in present circumstances, by reason of the continual contest that there is between the flesh and Spirit in the renewed soul: for while you are here in the body, the flesh is lusting on the one hand, and hath desires contrary to the motions and dictates of the Spirit, or of that gracious principle which is communicated by the Holy Spirit in his regenerating operations on the heart; and, on the other hand, the Spirit [hath desires] contrary to the appetites and inclinations of the flesh, or of that principle of corruption which is introduced by sin, and the remains of which are ready to exert their influence in the regenerate, and these two principles are directly opposite to each other both in their nature and their tendency; so that, upon the whole, ye do not the things that ye would, and are indeed incapable of doing them without The flesh hath desires contrary to the Spirit.] As it is plain that by the flesh, which is the same with what the apostle elsewhere calls the body of sin and the old man, (Rom. vi. 6.) we are to understand that natural corruption and depravity which is the ruling principle in a state of nature, and has so far infected all the faculties of man, that even the regenerate are troubled still with the remainders of it, and find it working in the motions of indwelling sin within them: so by the Spirit, which is here set in opposition to it, and is elsewhere expressed by the new man that is put on by such as are renewed in the spirit of their mind, (Eph. iv. 25, 24.) we are to understand that supernatural principle of grace which is imparted from above to the renewed soul, to overcome the passions of the carnal mind, to set us free from the dominion of our lusts, and to inspire us with a love to holiness; which Divin and heavenly principle being communicated to us by the Holy Spirit, has frequently the title of the Spirit given to it, as it is plainly the effect and fruit of it; for that which is born of the Spirit, is Spirit. (John iii. 6.) And there is such a contrariety in these two principles, that they are continually opposing one another in their desires and tendency, so that (as the apostle adds) ye do not the things that ye would: (for so it is expressed in the original, and not, ye cannot do, &c.) ye do them not without doing violence to the opposite principle that would be drawing you another way; which is agreeable to what the apostle elsewhere says, Rom. vii. 19, For the good that I would, I do not; but the civil which I would not, that I do
s are led y the Spirit are not un er the aw.
your overbearing, either the desires of animal nature, or the nobler dictates of an enlightened and sanctified Spirit. Now surely you may easily judge, since one of these must be opposed, and one only can be pleased and pursued, to which of them the preference is to be given. But, for your encouragement to a wise and happy choice, you will, I hope, always remember, that if ye be led by the Spirit of God in the paths of evangelical holiness and obedience, and act according to that new and spiritual nature he has formed in you, in the prevailing bent and tenor of your lives, ye are not then under the condemning sentence of the law, but are in consequence of this entitled to every benefit and privilege of the gospel.
And a farther argument will arise from considering the different tendency of these principles, and the effects or fruits of which they are productive, on the one hand and the other. Now, as to the former part of the view, the works of the flesh are very obvious and manifest, which are such as [these:] Adultery, a crime to be considered as in the first rank of enormities, as tending so directly to embitter conjugal life, and to introduce confusion and ruin into families; fornication, which, how light soever heathens may make of it, is in the sight of God a very grievous offence; as all uncleanness and immodesty of behaviour, and all lasciviousness in every kind and act of it, must also be, though fools who make a mock at sin mention these things in sport rather than with detestation. Idolatry likewise proceeds from this corrupt principle, as it inclines men to choose some sensible object for their devotions, and often such an one as may patronize their most
The works of the flesh are manifest.] As some of the fruits which are here specified seem to consist in errors of the mind, and others are the product of an evil disposition of spirit, it has been thought not easy to perceive with what propriety they are called works of the flesh; and Dr. Whitby offers several considerations to account for it. But if the flesh be taken (as it appears from hence it should be) for
that natural corruption which in the note before is said to have infected all the faculties of man, and so extends to all the powers of the mind as well as to the appetites of the body, there is no difficulty in ascribing each of the particulars here enumerated to the flesh, as it is evident they all proceed from that corruption, by means of which even the mind and conscience is defiled. Tit. i. 15.
An account of the works of the fles
irregular passions. From hence is also witchcraft, whereby desperate wretches are led to attempt an express association with infernal spirits, in order to gratify that malignant disposition of mind which excites and arms them against those who are regarded by them with an evil eye: and to the same original are owing implacable and bitter enmities, outrageous strifes and quarrels, inordinate transports of ill placed and ill proportioned zeal, deep resentments treasured up in the mind, clamorous contentions vented with eagerness and obstinately carried on, together with the keen divisions of a party spirit, among those who ought to be united in one interest and affection: yea, sometimes these ill principles proceed so far as to produce seditions in the state, and heresies also in religious communities, by which professing Christians are induced to separate from each other, and to form sects, who, instead of maintaining true candour and benevolence, renounce and condemn each other. To this corrupt source we are also to trace the many envyings which are so commonly to be seen against the prosperity and success of others; and sometimes murders too, contrived and
Witchcraft] I know some would render the word σφραχμαι poisoning; but I think it is with justice Mr. Leigh has observed, that this is comprehended under the word murders; nor is there any reason to believe the flesh so particularly inclined to this one kind of murder, as to give reason for specifying it rather than any other. It is certain that, on account of the drugs made use of in some supposed magical compositions, this word is often used to express those practices in which combinations with invisible malignant powers were believed and intended, to which (whether they had, or had not, that real foundation which has generally been believed) it is well known the Gentiles, even in the most learned nations, were very much addicted; as Mr. Weston has shown at large in the 7th chapter of his late learned treatise on the Rejection of Christian Miracles.
Divisions of a party spirit] We render διχηματικι seditions; but as that rather expresses a state crime, and the original word seems more general, I choose to ex-
press it by a periphrasis, sufficiently distinguishable from the other evils here mentioned, and tending naturally towards those heresies mentioned in the next article, as I understand it: yet, as seditions in the state are great evils, and the word διχηματικι may express dispositions leading to them, I introduce the mention of them into the paraphrase.
Heresies.] The proper signification of heresies here seems to be what I have briefly expressed in the paraphrase, and I must beg leave to refer to what Mr. Hallet has written upon this subject, as containing the reasons which have determined me to prefer it; for this is by no means a proper place to discuss a subject so much controverted. Yet I doubt not but heresies, in the ecclesiastical sense, as distinguished from what I take to be the scriptural, may generally be said to be works of the flesh; as bad inclinations of mind naturally lead to bad opinions, and to a haughty and factious manner of obtruding them upon others.
description of the fruits of the Spirit.
erpetrated by those whose passions and interests clash to such a degree, that nothing less than the destruction of the antagonist can appease the rage; and, to complete the catalogue, all kinds of irregular self indulgence, and particularly drunkenness, that sinks a man into a beast, and those disorderly and gluttonous revellings, by which the rational powers are in a great measure extinguished, or at least rendered incapable of performing their offices in a proper manner. These, and such like, are the works of the flesh; concerning which I now solemnly forewarn you, as I have also formerly declared for your security when I was present with you, that they who practise such things, whatever zeal they may pretend for the externals of religion in any of the forms of it, shall not inherit the kingdom of God, or be admitted to the possession of it; and are indeed so far from having any title to be numbered among Christians, that they shall soon be disowned, and turned out of that place which they have no right to hold in the church, with just infamy and detestation.
Such, I say, are the fruits and tendencies of the flesh: but the blessed fruit of the Spirit, in those who are governed by that gracious principle which is derived from him, is something quite of a different nature; for this, wherever it hath impregnated the mind, produces the amiable dispositions of undissembled love and holy joy, of universal benevolence of heart, and of that cheerful temper which is naturally connected with it: it engages us to cultivate peace with all men; and where we meet with injuries and provocations from any, to bear them with much long suffering, before we enter into any contentions about them: it forms us to gentle-
Revellings.] Καμαι, or revellings, among the Greeks (as Mr. Locke observes) were “a disorderly spending of the night in feasting, with a licentious indulging to wine, good cheer, music, dancing, &c.” and in this sense the word is explained by Hesychius and Suidas. We meet with it but twice elsewhere; (Rom. xiii. 13; and 1 Pet iv. 3;) and in both places it is joined, as here, with other riotous excesses. But
though the heathens were notoriously addicted to them, it is a sad evidence of the prevailing power of corruption, and it were well the consequences of it were more laid to heart, that among those who bear the name of Christians, any should make it a diversion to resemble them in such indulgencies, and not be ashamed of running to the same excess of riot.
VOL. 5.
They that are Christ’s have crucified the fl
ness in the whole of our conduct, and inspires a tender care that we may not, by any thing rough and overbearing, grieve and injure before we are aware : it excites us to such acts of generous goodness as our own circumstances may afford, and those of our neighbour require : it is also the Spirit of truth as well as of love, and leads us most strictly to observe fidelity, or good faith and uprightness, in all our dealings, neither in any instance imposing upon others, nor failing in any of those engagements which it is in our power to fulfil : It teaches us meekness, even when we are obliged to reprove others, or otherwise to animadvert upon them for their faults : and, with regard to the government of our corporeal appetites, it dictates the strictest temperance, that we may neither exceed in the quantity nor the kind of our food, or in any other indulgence of animal nature. These, as you plainly see, are most excellent dispositions, and against such [things] as these there is no law ; they have so manifest and evident a goodness in them, that they never were forbidden by any human institutions ; and those who in the general course of their lives practise them, under the influence of this Spirit, shall by the grace of the gospel be delivered from the condemning sentence of the Divine law.
And this is now, upon the whole, the character of all true Christians : for they who indeed are Christ’s, they who have received his Spirit, and whom he will finally own as belonging to him, have crucified the flesh with all [its] irregular passions and desires, and doomed it to a slow and painful, but to a certain death ; as if, like one that is crucified, the body of sin were fastened to the cross, and left to expire upon it : and this they do, out of love to the memory of their crucified Lord, by a continual regard to
Fidelity. It is observed in note 2, on Matt. xxiii. 23, (Vol. II p 314,) that the word swar has undoubtedly this signification in many other places. So we may understand it of the faithfulness of God, or his fidelity to his promises, Rom iii. 3 ; and where it is applied to servants we expressly render it fidelity. Tit. ii. 10 And
though it generally signifies the grace of faith, or the confidence reposed in another ; yet where we find it joined, as in the place before us, with other moral virtues, it may be rather taken to denote fidelity. See Matt. xxiii. 23 ; 1 Tim. iv. 12 ; vi. 11 ; 2 Tim. ii. 22 ; iii. 10 ; and Rev. ii. 19.
A caution against pride and vain glory.
whom they are animated strenuously to persevere in so self denying a resolution.
If therefore we profess to live in the Spirit, if we profess to be members of the Christian church, and to have that inward principle of Divine life which is produced by the Spirit, and continually subsists on communications from him, let us also make it our constant care, in consistency with such a profession, to walk in the Spirit, in a regular and orderly manner, taking every step according to rule and under his influence. And after all our care, as it is only by his grace that we are what we are, let us not be vain glorious, or conceited of our own endowments or performances; provoking one another to mutual ill usage by a contemptuous carriage towards any whom we consider as beneath us, or secretly envying one another for any imagined or real advantage which our brother may possess and we desire: but rather, with an unaffected humility and true benevolence of heart, let us rejoice in the happiness of others, and endeavour to promote it to the utmost of our power.
IMPROVEMENT.
Let us learn to consider this our mortal life as a state of warfare in which we are to be always struggling with enemies, with whom we are never to make either peace or truce; and since while we dwell in the body we shall still find the flesh lusting against the Spirit, let it be our constant concern, that the desires of the flesh may be opposed and mortified, and that the interests of the Spirit may be more and more advanced. And though the contrariety is such between them, that we cannot completely and continually do the things which we would, let us in the main be led by the Spirit, and give up our rational and governing powers more and more to its holy dictates, that we may not fulfil the lusts of the flesh; and though it still continues to solicit and disturb us, sin shall be kept from reigning in us.
We see what the works of the flesh are; which, if we really belong to Christ, we shall resolutely bind and crucify, with its affections and lusts. Let us endeavour more and more to subdue them, and learn (as it were) to use the instruments of his death
h If we live in the Spirit.] Mr. Howe insists largely on the energy of this phrase, living in the Spirit, as expressing, in terms nearly resembling those in Acts xvii. 28, our continual de evidence on its influences; and also illustrates the significance of the word σαχυμῖν in the latter clause of the verse, as explained in the paraphrase. See Howe on the Spirit, Vol. I. p. 237.
Reflections on the fruit of the flesh and Spirit.
most effectually to accomplish the death of sin; bringing the old man to be crucified with him, (Rom. vi. 6.) and nailing it to that cross to which he hath nailed that decree of death which in consequence of sin lay against us. (Col. ii. 14.)
In opposition to that cursed train of irregular and malignant affections which are here described as the works of the flesh, (the continued indulgence of which is absolutely inconsistent with our hope of inheriting the kingdom of God,) let us cultivate those amiable dispositions of mind against which there is no law: and may the Spirit of love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, the Spirit of faith, meekness, and temperance, work them more and more in our souls!
How vain are the cares of the generality of men to adorn their bodies, to improve their estates, to advance their rank, while their minds remain neglected! Yea, how vain are all cares to cultivate the mind with science, when compared with the infinitely more important care of improving it in such habits of goodness, whereby we shall be brought to resemble God, and be fitted for over to enjoy him! Let this be all our emulation, and in this let us place our glory; nor let us go about to provoke one another to any thing but this.
We profess to live in the Spirit of God, whose gracious influences are indeed the very life of our souls: let us make it our care also to walk in the Spirit, to regulate every action of our lives, every sentiment of our hearts, by a becoming regard to him; guarding solicitously against any thing that would grieve him, and encouraging those friendly offices of his whereby we may be trained up in a growing meekness for the society of the blessed spirits above; and for that world, where the flesh shall be laid aside till all the seeds of corruption are worn out of its composition, and it be raised as pure as it shall be glorious in the image of that Saviour whose discipline has taught us to seek the victory over it, and whose grace enables us to obtain it.