04_Biblica_Aletti_Layout 1 08/07/13 12:56 Pagina 407 04_B 407 PAUL’S EXHORTATIONS IN GAL 5,16-25 7,7-25 and that of the believers in Gal 5,16-24 is different, because the egô in Rom 7,7ff is not Christian, it is necessary to admit that Gal 5,17 is not considering the good or evil desires of the Christian but the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit, which are the only ac- tive realities 36. Indeed, the flesh struggles against the Spirit (and not directly against the believers), and if it struggles against the Spirit, it is so that believers cannot be protected and as a result produce those evil works that are of the flesh and are enumerated in vv. 19-21. In- deed, v. 17 supposes that the believers want to be led by the Spirit and its meaning depends on that of the surrounding verses, namely v. 16 (“walk by the Spirit”) and v. 18a, a conditional proposition that takes up the line of thought and expresses an actual condition: “But if (= if it is true that) you are led by the Spirit”. However, the objec- tion made above on the negative denotation of the relative pronoun is also valid for a possible positive denotation in so far as one makes (δ) depend upon (γ). As to the relative pronoun ἅ, it can have a positive denotation if one follows the third reading, which connects v. 17δ with 17α and makes the two intermediate lines (β and γ) an incidental clause, as the following disposition indicates, in which the hyphens indicate the limits of this incidental clause 37: (α) For (γάρ) the flesh desires against the Spirit, — (β) but (δέ) the Spirit desires against the flesh, (γ) for (γάρ) those (powers) fight each other —, (δ) to (ἵνα) prevent you from doing those (things) you would. This way of seeing the relationships between lines gives a positive meaning to the relative pronoun 38. The verse must then be under- stood thus: the flesh desires against the Spirit, in order to prevent you from doing the good that you would like (and that the Spirit prompts you to do). The two central lines, the incidental clause, have as their function supplying details to (α): the first (β), to indicate that the en- On the difference of the perspective in Romans 7 and Gal 5,17, see, 36 e.g., BETZ, Galatians, 279-280. See the article by J. KILGALLEN, “The Strivings of the Flesh … (Gala- 37 tians 5,17)”, Bib 80 (1999) 113-114, and the one by HOFIUS, “Widerstreit zwischen Fleisch und Geist?”. Thus, Hofius, and it seems, Kilgallen. 38 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati