04_Biblica_Aletti_Layout 1 08/07/13 12:56 Pagina 411 04_B 411 PAUL’S EXHORTATIONS IN GAL 5,16-25 But first, a short examination of v. 18 is essential. Why does Paul say that if believers are led by the Spirit, they are not “under the νόµος” (“Law”), whereas, after the thoughts on the opposition of the flesh/Spirit and its implications, the reader expects Paul to declare that they were “beyond the reach of the flesh”? And what does the word νόµος designate? The Mosaic Law, without a doubt, because it is not the first time that Galatians has utilized the expression “under the Law” 48, and it has always designated the Mosaic Law 49. If the affir- mation in Gal 5,18 is new, it has nevertheless been prepared for by the preceding argumentations, in which Paul says that believers are dead to the Law (2,19), that they have not received the Spirit by prac- ticing the Law (3,2), and that by liberating them from the slavery of the Law, God has made them sons/daughters by the gift of the Spirit (4,4f). The Law and the Spirit are thus incompatible, just like the flesh and the Spirit. Verse 18 also implies that the one and only true guide for believers is the Spirit and not the Law — which the Jews regard as a light for their steps, a sure guide towards salvation, etc 50. Who- ever has the Spirit for a guide is thus not submissive to the Law. But why has the vocable “Law” replaced “flesh” in v. 18? Because Paul is recalling and indirectly indicating to the Galatians that undergoing circumcision, and thus submitting to the Law, would mean their falling back under the power of the flesh, against which the Law remains powerless. In short, if they wanted to be “under the Law,” the Gala- tians would again be in the situation of subjection and enslavement (Gal 3,10ff and 4,5). As Dunn says, for Paul, “[t]o put oneself ‘under the law’, in other words, was to look in the wrong direction for salva- tion. Worse still, to assume that only ‘under the law’ could salvation be found was to deny the reality of Gentile as Gentile having received the Spirit” 51. One then understands why the theme of the Law runs throughout the exhortations in Gal 5,13-25: if the believers have been invited to fulfill the Law (5,14), they must not however become its sub- jects, because this would be for them falling back into slavery and The upper case letter indicates that it is a question of the Mosaic Law 48 and not any other type of law. Cf. Gal 3,23; 4,4.5.21. 49 Prov 6,23; Isa 51,4; Ps 118/119,30. 50 DUNN, Galatians, 300. For the Apostle, “Implicit here also is a clear dis- 51 tinction between being ‘under the law’ and ‘fulfilling the law’ (5,14)” (ibid.). © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati