04_Biblica_Aletti_Layout 1 08/07/13 12:56 Pagina 403 04_B 403 PAUL’S EXHORTATIONS IN GAL 5,16-25 ing a situation analogous to that in Rom 7,15 and 20 20. For the sec- ond reading, far from causing the paralysis of the believer, the flesh/Spirit antagonism, on the contrary, prompts him to discernment and not to do everything that comes to mind, in other words, what is injurious and evil: “these things are opposed to one another in order to prevent you from doing whatever you would.” The third reading, which has recently been proposed, makes (β) and (γ) an in- cidental clause and connects (δ) to (α): “For the flesh desires against the Spirit — and the Spirit desires against the flesh; for those fight each other 21 — to prevent you from doing those things you would”. In this case, the verse is describing the negative designs of the flesh against the Spirit in order to prevent believers from doing the good they would like to do, and, by using an incidental clause, Paul adds that the Spirit does not remain passive, his role being precisely to thwart the designs of the flesh. An example of the first reading is found in Dunn’s commentary 22, for whom the verse is describing the situation of the Christian, in whom the Spirit’s action exacerbates the human experience in general: “Where life previously could be lived on the level of the flesh with little or no self-questioning, now the presence of the Spirit brings with it a profound disease with the reduction of humanity to the level of an- imal appetites. It is important to recognize that Paul sees this as a Chris- tian condition” 23. A situation about which he thus comments: “There is no perfection for the Christian in this life; the desires of flesh as well as of Spirit characterize the ongoing process of salvation” 24. Whether the meaning given to the conjunction ἵνα is final or consecutive, the result of this struggle is the same: the flesh prevents the believer from For here and there, one encounters a contrast between wanting and 20 doing (in Greek, θέλειν/ποιεῖν), since Paul says that one cannot do what one wants. A reading that is generally qualified as Lutheran. The ἀντίκειται is generally translated “are opposed”. In order to avoid the 21 opposition being interpreted passively, I have preferred to use an active verb. The same reading in MARTYN, Galatians, 494, who, furthermore, notes 22 that given v. 16, “one should have expected quite a different closure in this sentence: ‘for the Flesh is actively inclined against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the Flesh.’ These two powers constitute a pair of opposites at war with one another, and the result of this war, commenced by the Spirit, is that the Spirit is in the process of liberating you from the power of the Flesh”. DUNN, Galatians, 297. 23 Ibidem. 24 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati