Paul continued to describe the freedom for which Christ has set us free¹ (Galatians 5:16 ESV).

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

But I say (Λέγω δέ) by the Spirit (πνεύματι᾿) walk (περιπατεῖτε) is nearer the actual word order. There is a choice here, too: περιπατεῖτε might be understood as an imperative form of περιπατέω, or as a statement of fact in the indicative mood, “But I say, by the Spirit you walk.” The ESV translators chose the imperative—walk by the Spirit—and so have I up to this moment.

Though the general trend of my life since I turned Paul’s definition of love into rules for me to obey has been to abandon the laws of Paul for faith in Jesus Christ, I haven’t trusted Him with this. Why not? I wonder, now that For our freedom Christ has us set free; therefore you stand firm and cannot entangle yourselves in a yoke of slavery again.² Now that I’m hearing this as his work rather than mine.

Is there any other reason to believe that Paul wrote foolish Galatians, saying, “But I say, by the Spirit you walk”? To Romans he wrote (Romans 8:3-9 ESV):

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk (περιπατοῦσιν, another form of περιπατέω) not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live (ὄντες, a present participle of εἰμί) according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are (ὄντες, a present participle of εἰμί) in the flesh (ἐν σαρκὶ) cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh (οὐκ ἐστὲ ἐν σαρκὶ) but in the Spirit (ἐν πνεύματι), if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong (ἔστιν, another form of εἰμί) to him³ [Table].

Paul didn’t even hint that the foolish Galatians did not belong to Christ. He called them my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!⁴ And he added, I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed (ἀποροῦμαι, a form of ἀπορέω) about you.⁵ And here to the Romans it’s quite clear he was describing truths to believe rather than works to achieve, the better promises of the new covenant.

It occurred to me that I could put this to rest, perhaps, if Paul and the Holy Spirit had another word choice that was exclusively in the indicative mood. But περιπατεῖτε is the only 2^nd person plural form of περιπατέω in the present tense and the active voice listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon online. I’ll reexamine all my choices and assumptions so far.

Galatians 5:1
My first assumption is that the foolish Galatians, you, are included in For our freedom Christ has us set free⁶ as opposed to being excluded from that freedom. This assumption is confirmed later: For you to freedom were called, brothers.⁷ This eliminates the possibility that Paul was describing an elitist Pauline party to which foolish Galatians could belong by following the rules of Saint Paul as opposed to the rules of some other unnamed saint heading up some other elitist party. Such elitist parties were associated with the jealousy and strife of the flesh (1 Corinthians 3:1-8 ESV):

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready [Table], for you are still of the flesh (σαρκικοί, a form of σαρκικός). For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh (σαρκικοί, a form of σαρκικός) and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth [Table]. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

There is one other 2^nd person plural form of στήκω listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon in the present tense and active voice: στήκητε in the subjunctive mood. None of the 2^nd person plural forms listed is exclusively in the indicative or imperative mood. Perhaps the ESV translation of στήκετε (stand firm rather than “you must stand firm”) was intended to be vague enough to let the reader choose between the indicative and imperative moods. My ear, attuned by my background, hears it as a command. My own you stand firm may still sound imperative to some, so I’ll consider the implications.

“The imperative mood is a command or instruction given to the hearer, charging the hearer to carry out or perform a certain action.”⁸ Understanding στήκετε in the imperative mood casts the freedom for which Christ has set us free⁹ as aspirational: If I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action,” stand firm.

There was a time when I thought Christ’s death on the cross was mostly aspirational. Since Christ died for my sins I should do A, B, C, etc. and refrain from doing X, Y, Z, etc. The forgiveness of sins was a possible exception, but as Jesus asked rhetorically, which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?¹⁰ The general trend of my growing faith since that time has been that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is more instrumental than aspirational.

Paul described the Lord’s death as one of the better promises of the new covenant in Christ (Romans 6:1-6 ESV).

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? [Table] By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that (ἵνα), just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk (περιπατήσωμεν, another form of περιπατέω)¹¹ in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self (ὁ παλαιὸς ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος; aka our old man) was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing (καταργηθῇ, a form of καταργέω), so that we would no longer be enslaved (δουλεύειν, the present infinitive of δουλεύω) to sin.

“The indicative mood is a statement of fact or an actual occurrence from the writer’s or speaker’s perspective.”¹² Understanding στήκετε in the indicative mood casts the freedom for which Christ has set us free¹³ as instrumental: the freedom for which Christ has set us free is the means by which I stand firm through faith. For our freedom Christ has us set free; therefore you stand firm.¹⁴

The verb ἐνέχεσθε is a 2^nd person plural form of ἐνέχω in the present tense and imperative mood: do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.¹⁵ So again, if I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action,” do not submit again. Once I understand Christ’s freedom as instrumental, however, I hear the middle/passive verb ἐνέχεσθε as another outcome of that freedom: and cannot entangle yourselves in a yoke of slavery again.¹⁶ The yoke of slavery is the flesh (the body of sin…brought to nothing) along with its consequent faith and those actions that follow from faith in the flesh (Galatians 3:1-3 ESV):

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified [Table]. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Galatians 5:13
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.¹⁷ By translating μόνον μὴ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν εἰς ἀφορμὴν τῇ σαρκί (only not the freedom unto an opportunity for the flesh [EXP4]) as Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh casts Christ’s freedom as aspirational: if I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action”: do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. There were no Greek verbs in the imperative mood in the phrase “only not the freedom unto an opportunity for the flesh.” There were no verbs at all.

The verb δουλεύετε, was the only 2^nd person plural form of δουλεύω in the present tense listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon: δουλεύσετε in the future tense is in the indicative mood exclusively and δουλεύσατε in the aorist tense is exclusively imperative. If the translation serve was intended to be understood as an imperative, it casts Christ’s freedom as aspirational. So, here again, if I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action,” through love serve one another.

Beyond that, however, Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another casts Christ’s freedom as something potentially dangerous which I must defend myself against by my works: 1) stand firm, 2) do not submit again to a yoke of slavery, 3) do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but 4) through love serve one another. Here again, understanding δουλεύετε as a statement of fact in the indicative mood—but through love you serve one another¹⁸—casts Christ’s freedom as instrumental, the source of the love through which we serve one another.

Galatians 5:16
If But I say, walk by the Spirit was designating περιπατεῖτε as the imperative form of περιπατέω, it casts Christ’s freedom as aspirational. If I aspire to the freedom for which Christ has set us free, then I must “perform a certain action,” I must walk by the Spirit. And here again, understanding περιπατεῖτε as a statement of fact in the indicative mood—“But I say, by the Spirit you walk”—casts Christ’s freedom as instrumental to—the “cause-in-fact” of—walking by the Spirit.

Why did I balk at this? It was my understanding of the conjoined clause (Galatians 5:16b ESV):

and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

The Greek was καὶ, “and,” ἐπιθυμίαν, “desire,” σαρκὸς, “of flesh,” οὐ μὴ, “never,” τελέσητε, “accomplish”: “But I say, by the Spirit you walk and desire of flesh never accomplish.” The phrase οὐ μὴ τελέσητε is called a subjunctive of emphatic negation. I was so taken with this, I turned Paul’s words into a conditional statement:

If I walk by the Spirit, I will never under any circumstance imaginable complete the desire of flesh.

Now I question whether that maneuver could be considered rightly handling the word of truth.¹⁹ The following table compares Galatians 5:16 to an actual conditional statement:

The Greek conjunction εἰ, if, does not occur in Galatians 5:16. Paul and the Holy Spirit did not make this a conditional (if this, then that) statement. I did, hoping to find some barometer that would help me accomplish my work of walking by the Spirit: “You must walk by the Spirit” is the meaning of πνεύματι περιπατεῖτε when περιπατεῖτε is understood as an imperative. “Walking by the Spirit is a skill or knack that is trickier to learn by trial-and-error than sound no trumpet,²⁰ so that your giving may be in secret,”²¹ I wrote elsewhere.

Looking back now it seems clear that calling walk by the Spirit a “knack” was a tacit admission that I had no clue how “to carry out or perform” it as an “action.”²² Calling it a “knack that is trickier to learn by trial-and-error” barely masked my frustration with that ignorance. But my biggest frustration was the nagging question: “Why, knowing what I know about walking by the Spirit, do I ever walk according to the flesh?”

I had forgotten Paul’s sagacity regarding my identity vis-à-vis sin: Now if I do what I do not want (ὃ οὐ θέλω), it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.²³ Maybe I hadn’t forgotten it completely. I recalled that if sin that dwells within me was completing “the desire of flesh” that was synonymous with walking by the flesh. I was not recalling, however, how sin gained that advantage over me as I made walk by the Spirit a rule for me to obey: But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.²⁴

There is the answer to my nagging question, “Why, knowing what I know about walking by the Spirit, do I ever walk according to the flesh?” I attempted to have a righteousness of my own that comes from the law²⁵—walk by the Spirit as “a certain action” I must “perform”—playing into sin’s power—the power of sin is the law²⁶—to deceive—For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me.²⁷ The solution is to hear περιπατεῖτε as a statement of fact in the indicative mood—But I say, by the Spirit you walk and the desire of flesh you never accomplish²⁸—as a truth to believe rather than a work to achieve. As Paul concluded: But thanks be to God, who gives (διδόντι, a present participle of δίδωμι) us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.²⁹

Paul continued (Galatians 5:17 ESV [Table])

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 keep you from doing the things you want to do.

The Greek was: ἡ γὰρ σὰρξ, “For the flesh,” ἐπιθυμεῖ, “desires”: “For the flesh desires.” The verb ἐπιθυμεῖ is a 3^rd person singular form of ἐπιθυμέω in the present tense, active voice and indicative mood. It is a statement of fact and a clear reference to your old self (τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον; aka the old man), which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.³⁰

Next came: κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, “against the Spirit’s [desires].” The genitive τοῦ πνεύματος helps unravel why the ESV translators transformed the verb ἐπιθυμεῖ into a noun with a verb of being (ESV: the desires…are) and ἡ…σὰρξ in the nominative case into a genitive prepositional phrase: of the flesh. “For the flesh desires against the Spirit’s [desires]” is awkward in English, though the point is well-taken.

In the next clause the verb ἐπιθυμεῖ is implied: τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα, “and the Spirit,” κατὰ τῆς σαρκός, “against the flesh’s [desires].” So, “For the flesh desires against the Spirit’s [desires] and the Spirit against the flesh’s [desires].”

And the next clause: ταῦτα γὰρ, for these (the Spirit and the flesh), ἀλλήλοις, each other, ἀντίκειται, “oppose,” ἵνα, “so that,” μὴ ἃ ἐὰν θέλητε ταῦτα, “not that if you may want these” (e.g., want what the flesh desires), ποιῆτε, “you may do.” So, for these each other “oppose so that not that if you may want these you may do.”

I completely misunderstood for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do in English as a standoff between the Spirit and the flesh. The Greek says that even if I want to do what the flesh desires I cannot do it: for it is God who works in you, both to will (τὸ θέλειν) and to work (καὶ τὸ ἐνεργεῖν) for his good pleasure.³¹

In other words, the freedom (Τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ) for which Christ has set us free³² is nothing less than the new self (τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον; aka the new man), created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness³³ led by the indwelling Holy Spirit: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (ἐλευθερία).³⁴ The flesh is not even remotely comparable in power to the Spirit of God.

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him,³⁵ Paul wrote. The Greek—εἰ δέ, “But if” or “And if,” τις, “anyone,” πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ, “Christ’s Spirit,” οὐκ ἔχει, “not have”—seems more hypothetical (Acts 19:1-7) than the ESV translation. The Greek continues: οὗτος οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῦ; literally, “this not is of Him.”

In the NET οὗτος was translated this person. Both translations derive the verb belong from the pronoun αὐτοῦ in the genitive case but there is no form of the verb ἀνήκω in this clause. I take “But if anyone Christ’s Spirit not have, this not is of Him” more openly than belonging to an elitist party. He wants us to have his Spirit. He wants us to know Him and abide in Him. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, Peter wrote, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.³⁶

The Greek words translated not wishing were μὴ βουλόμενος, a form of βούλομαι. According to the Koine Greek Lexicon this means: “The Lord refuses” or “He is not consenting,” τινας, “some,” ἀπολέσθαι, an infinitive form of the verb ἀπόλλυμι in the middle voice, “to be destroyed, ruined; to perish, die; to be lost.” And this was contrasted with: ἀλλὰ πάντας, “but all,” εἰς μετάνοιαν, “unto repentance,” χωρῆσαι, a form of χωρέω. And here there is a choice to be made.

The ESV translation should reach (coupled with not wishing for μὴ βουλόμενος) indicates the optative mood, a 3^rd person singular form of χωρέω. “The optative is the mood of possibility, removed even further than the subjunctive mood from something conceived of as actual. Often it is used to convey a wish or hope for a certain action to occur.”³⁷ I will point out, however, that πάντας (all) is plural and χωρῆσαι is the only aorist infinitive listed in the Koine Greek Lexicon. As an infinitive verb in the aorist tense and active voice χωρῆσαι means: “to make room, give way, withdraw; to be spacious; to go, go out, go away, reach (e.g., the report reached us); to be in motion, go forward, make progress; to have room for, hold, contain; to grasp (mentally), understand, accept; to turn out (in a certain way at the end); to move far and wide.” In other words, “but all unto repentance to reach.”

Accepting χωρῆσαι as an infinitive form of the verb χωρέω agrees with the Lord’s current judgment (John 12:31, 32 ESV):

Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

How do we respond to such grace? I heard a Christmas sermon as I wrote this essay that reminded me of Mary. There was nothing she could, or even should, do to become pregnant with the Son of God—just as there is nothing we can do to form Christ in us—except believe. Her faith can be ours as well: Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.³⁸