04_Biblica_Aletti_Layout 1 08/07/13 12:56 Pagina 401 04_B 401 PAUL’S EXHORTATIONS IN GAL 5,16-25 posed to each other, and one cannot associate them. In the second (vv. 19-23), the effects of each of these two powers are described, effects that clearly manifest the opposition stated in the first stage. III. Gal 5,17: Difficulties and Proposals The overall arrangement does not pose a major problem, in as much as the flesh/Spirit alternation is obvious, as has been seen by Dunn: (d) v. 17 the flesh (c) v. 18 the Spirit 14 (D) vv. 19-21 the flesh and its works (C) vv. 22-23 the Spirit and its fruits. The alternation, which is barely described, invites considering v. 17 as principally speaking of the flesh and its negative designs. Nevertheless, its syntactical construction can be interpreted in var- ious ways and actually has been. The relationship of the four propo- sitions or stiches Commentators note the ambiguity of the term πνεῦµα, which can des- 14 ignate the human spirit or the divine Spirit. If there is actually an ambiguity in vv. 17-18, vv. 22-23 definitively remove it, because charity and the other fruits mentioned have the divine πνεῦµα as their origin. Moreover, if in this passage πνεῦµα designated the human spirit, it would cause a semantic anar- chy, since all the preceding occurrences of the word in Galatians designated the Holy Spirit. Thus, even if the human spirit “is that aspect of the person that is open to domination by the Holy Spirit”, D. HARRINGTON – J. KEENAN, Paul and Virtue Ethics (Lanham, MD 2010) 110, and if for this reason it is in opposition to the flesh and could be the power designated by Paul in v. 17, vv. 22-23 nevertheless invite seeing the divine Spirit designated by the word pneuma. In order to indicate this, here the word Spirit will be capitalized. This being said, although the Spirit is of divine origin, it is not only external to the believer: the exhortations in Galatians 5 must be read according to and in relation to the preceding occurrences of the vocable, in particular Gal 4,6, in which it is said that “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts”. © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati