Galatians 5:16–21

Context

This passage appears in the latter part of Galatians, the letter Paul wrote to the churches in the region of Galatia. The Galatian believers were being unsettled by teaching that required circumcision and observance of the law. Paul defends the freedom gained through faith (Galatians 5:1), and in 5:13–15 he urges his readers to "use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." Following this exhortation, the passage states that the "flesh" and the "Spirit" are set against each other and lists fifteen "works of the flesh" (as counted in the Korean Revised Version), from fornication to revellings. This list is paired with the "fruit of the Spirit" in verses 22–23, which immediately follow. The prevailing interpretation holds that "flesh" (Greek sarx) here refers not to the body itself but to human nature in opposition to God.

Interpretation

• Lutheran and Reformed readings: Verse 17 is read as describing an inner struggle that continues throughout life, even in the believer who has received the Holy Spirit. Connecting it with Romans 7, these traditions hold that believers struggle against sin in this life and are progressively made holy.
• Wesleyan and Holiness readings: Emphasis falls on the promise of verse 16, "ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." These traditions hold that believers led by the Spirit can live a life of victory over sin, and they treat the passage as a basis for the doctrines of sanctification and holiness.
• Pentecostal and charismatic readings: The passage is read as emphasizing a life that relies on the Spirit's leading and power rather than on effort of the will.
• The law in verse 18: Many interpreters take this verse to mean that a life led by the Spirit is not bound to the letter of the law, yet fulfills the law through love (Galatians 5:14). This question connects to broader discussions of the relationship between law and gospel.

Controversies and Issues

• The warning of verse 21 and salvation: Interpretations differ over the warning that such people "shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Calvinism, in keeping with the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints (the teaching that true believers persevere in faith to the end), understands "they which do such things" as those who habitually continue in such a life, and does not read the verse as meaning that true believers can lose their salvation. Arminianism and Wesleyan theology tend to read it as a genuine warning that believers, too, can fall from grace.
• The translation "heresies": The word "heresies" in verse 20 translates the Greek hairesis. Because the word originally meant "faction" or "sect," some argue that equating it directly with the later doctrinal concept of heresy reads it out of context.
• Manuscript variants: Some later manuscripts, and the King James Version, which follows them, include "adultery" in verse 19 and "murders" in verse 21. These two words are absent from the Korean Revised Version.
• Drunkenness: In Korean churches the passage is often cited as a basis for teaching abstinence from alcohol. Others counter that what the passage forbids is drunkenness, not drinking itself (see Alcohol and Tobacco).

In the Korean Church

The passage is often treated together with verses 22–23 in sermons and Bible studies that contrast the "works of the flesh" with the "fruit of the Spirit."

Related Passages

• Galatians 5:22–23
• Romans 8:5–13
• 1 Corinthians 6:9–10
• Ephesians 5:5
• Galatians 6:8–10