04_Biblica_Aletti_Layout 1 08/07/13 12:56 Pagina 405 04_B 405 PAUL’S EXHORTATIONS IN GAL 5,16-25 Socrates – (207e) Do you consider that a man is happy when en- slaved and restricted from doing the things he desires (ποιεῖν ὧν ἐπιθυµοῖ)? Lysis - Not I, on my word. Socrates - Then if your father and mother are fond of you, and de- sire to see you happy, it is perfectly plain that they are anxious to secure your happiness. Lysis - They must be, of course. Socrates - Hence they allow you to do what you want/like (ἐῶσιν ἄρα σε ἃ βούλει ποιεῖν), and never scold you, or hinder (διακωλύουσιν) you from doing what you (could possibly) de- sire (ποιεῖν ὧν ἂν ἐπιθυµῇς)? Lysis - Yes, they do, Socrates. I assure you: they stop me from doing a great many things (µάλα γε πολλὰ κωλύουσιν). In short, if one compares this passage from Lysis with Gal 5,17, one could say that in the second reading the parents and the flesh/Spirit struggle have the same role, that of preventing the chil- dren/believers from desiring anything whatsoever and thus confus- ing true liberty with the absence of all constraint. In this case, Paul could have implicitly continued with the metaphor used in Gala- tians 4, once again reminding the Christians of Galatia that they have remained small children in need of a pedagogue who prevents them from doing all that they would like, from following all their desires, especially the most foolish and dangerous, in order that progressively they may experiment with what is true liberty, since, for the Socrates of Lysis, as for him, such is the role of the peda- gogue 28. Nevertheless, the comparison remains dubious, because it is the Spirit, and he alone, who prevents the believers from doing whatever might come to mind. In other words, more than the re- ciprocal flesh/Spirit enmity, it is the intervention and kind attention of the Spirit (and his alone) that prevents the believers from fol- lowing all their impulses. One may also ask if in Gal 5,17δ, the rel- ative pronoun has all the extension — and the distributive meaning — that the second reading gives to it. Indeed, when Paul wants to give the maximal (or distributive) extension to a relative pronoun, Gal 4,1-2, because the ideas and words in common with Lysis and Galatians 3‒4 are too numerous to speak of a coincidence. Lysis 208c and Gal 3,24; 4,1-3. 28 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati