#030: The School Papers - 003
Galatians 5:13-26: Transformation By Walking in the Spirit
The next entry in the the School Papers is an exegetical research paper I wrote. This was in BIBL 318 Pauline Literature in my undergrad. In the paper, we were tasked with exegeting a specific passage in Galatians - I chose Galatians 5:13-26. In the paper, I set out to answer the question, “What does Paul mean when he says to walk in the Spirit? What does he mean by living by the flesh?”
This was an undergrad paper. So, of course, there is much more that can and should be said. But, I largely stand by the work I did here. As always, I’d love for you to join the conversation! What do you think: what pushbacks, additions, critiques do you have? What resonated? What do you think I got wrong? What is your understanding of Paul’s argument in Galatians?
Happy reading!
Introduction
How does allegiance to Yahweh God change when he dramatically and surprisingly reveals himself and fulfills all his promises to Israel through Jesus of Nazareth? This is the impetus behind the stories and letters of the New Testament; the early followers of Jesus are figuring out together what allegiance to God as revealed in Jesus means. The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians is no exception to this. Paul writes that there are new covenantal markers: baptism, faith, allegiance to Messiah Jesus, and walking in step with the Spirit. These ideas collide in Galatians 5:13-26, an integral part of Paul’s argument and gospel message. This paper will interpret the text above, doing so by first surveying the background and context of the letter to the Galatians, historically and biblically. Next, once the text has been placed firmly in its context, the meaning of the text will be drawn out. Then, to understand the total weight and relevance of the passage, this author will draw theological truths and contemporary applications from the text, ending with relevant concluding thoughts. In Galatians 5:13-26, Paul presents the Galatians with a choice: live in the works of the flesh which leads to death or choose the empowering presence of the Spirit which leads to love and true transformation.
Historical Context and Background
Galatians is nearly universally attributed to the Apostle Paul, though there is debate over the exact date of the letter, with dating around 48 to the mid 50’s AD, and whether the letter is addressed to the regions of North or South Galatia. The disagreement over the precise dating revolves around whether or not Paul wrote Galatians before or after the famed Council at Jerusalem in Acts 15.[1] What is important to note is the content of what is happening at both the Jerusalem Council and the letter to the Galatians. The letter and the Council are examples of Jewish and Gentile Christians struggling to reimagine the faith in light of Jesus. The letters of Paul and the other New Testament writers are never writing theological treatises in a vacuum. Paul and other New Testament authors did not write theology for the sake of it, but in communities that needed their assistance in identifying and constructing loyalty to the one God who had now acted in Christ. The letters of the New Testament, Galatians included, are “theology written for or brought to bear on the task at hand…one must always keep in mind that they were not primarily written to expand Christian theology. It is always theology applied to or directed toward a particular need.”[2] This is the historical context of this ancient letter written to a church in the Roman Empire. Paul writes to address a particular need: a group of new, multi-ethnic, disciples of Jesus grasping at what it means to be a part of the new world He is ushering in.
This naturally led to serious debate about the nature of the role of Torah and what covenant markers established one as a part of the family of God. Paul had previously dealt with this issue in the church. He heard that teachers were teaching that circumcision was necessary for entrance into the family alongside faith, baptism, and the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Paul responds to the Galatians with stunning ferocity and passion, stating that he is “astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (Gal. 1:6 Lexham English Bible). The harsh language Paul uses here is indicative of the seriousness of the situation to him. As N.T. Wright puts it, “Paul’s animated response is that this not only constitutes a betrayal of the agreement with the pillar apostles in Jerusalem but also a flagrant departure from the truth of the gospel. Paul insists that you do not have to become physically Jewish in order to belong to the Messiah’s family – and that, if you try to do so, you are denying the crucified and risen Messiah himself.”[3] To Paul, the Galatians’ acceptance of circumcision is tantamount to the rejection of Messiah Jesus and all he accomplished in his death and resurrection, as he says in Galatians 5:2: “Look! I, Paul, tell you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing!” (Gal. 5:2, LEB).
It is important to note before moving on, however, that Paul is not writing a polemic against Judaism as we think of it or to remove any “Jewishness” from the way the Galatian Christians were doing church. When Paul came to believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah of his Jewish faith and heritage, Paul did not abandon his Jewish identity, but rather, “his Jewish past continued to influence him.”[4] To truly understand Paul, we must hear him and his message “just as he presented it to his gentile hearers-as the fulfillment of Israel’s hopes and Scriptures in Jesus Christ.” Only then will we discover “that the Jewish character of Paul’s thought” and “its foundations in the Old Testament Scriptures, is key to unlocking the riches of his theology.”[5] Paul did not lose hope in the Jewish God and faith after meeting Jesus, but when “the one who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace was pleased to reveal his Son in me in order that I would proclaim the gospel about him among the Gentiles,” he realized that Jesus was the fulfillment of all his faith and hopes in Yahweh God (Gal. 1:15-16, LEB). Nor does Paul suddenly harbor a hatred for Torah observance. The problem for Paul was not Torah observance per say, but “specifically when it was used to force gentiles to identify with the ethnic Jewish people in order to be acceptable to God.”[6] For Paul, the gentiles who put themselves under the yoke of Torah in order to achieve justification, he says that they have become “subject again to a yoke of slavery” and “Christ will profit you nothing!”(Gal. 5:1, 2, LEB). Paul is not writing against Jewishness or the Torah in Galatians.
This must color how Galatians and our passage of Galatians 5:13-26 are to be understood. As Craig Keener notes in his commentary on Galatians, Paul’s argument is against believers “who insist that ‘Paul’s Gentile converts must accept the Jewish law’ if they are to belong to God’s people.”[7] Paul is resisting and arguing against the notion that Gentiles need circumcision to enter into the family of God because of what Jesus has done.
Thus, Paul writes the letter to the Galatians to establish his authority and the authority of the gospel he preached originally, expound that gospel message again, and exhort them to live out the logical conclusion of it: they are to live as a unified, multi-ethnic family of Messiah Jesus precisely as the fulfillment of all the ancient promises of Yahweh God with faith and loyalty to Messiah Jesus, loving one another as he loves them, and living in step with His Holy Spirit.
Exegesis of Passage
The passage Galatians 5:13-26 comes towards the end of the letter, though it is still an integral part of the thrust of Paul’s writing. In chapters 1 and 2, Paul defended his gospel; he did not get it second-hand from the Jerusalem apostles, he received it straight from Jesus himself. Jesus has commissioned him to preach this gospel message. Not only that, but the pillars of the church (Peter, James, and John) have signed off on this message. In chapters 3 and 4, Paul rearticulates and expounds his gospel message: Surprisingly, all the ancient promises to Abraham, Moses, and David are fulfilled in Jesus. Yahweh has saved and redeemed his people and come to dwell with them; the Messiah has inaugurated the reign of God’s Kingdom, all through Jesus, the Son of God. This salvation now possible in Jesus is not a foreign, disconnected thing from the traditional Jewish faith; it is its fulfillment and climax to Paul. Richard Hays recognizes this beautifully: “Paul reads Scripture in light of a narrative hermeneutic as a grand story of election and promise…The church is called to find its identity and mission within this epic story stretching from Adam to Abraham to Moses to Isaiah to Christ to the saints in Paul’s own historical moment.”[8] It is one story that is now extended out to the nations. All can enter into the family by placing their trust, belief, and allegiance in this Jesus. Torah and circumcision are no longer required as markers of the covenant family; instead, now the family of Yahweh is defined by believing loyalty to the Son of God and what he’s done for them and living as a part of the expanded covenant family.
The question then, in chapters 5 and 6, is how this life in light of Jesus is to be lived. What do Gentile and Jewish believers do with this freedom in Christ they have now received? This is a vitally important question, as in the kingdom of God belief and loyalty to the one God must never be divorced from active participation. Bible reading, theology, and doctrine must always turn from understanding to obedience, from not only believing but also to following.[9] This is why Paul’s conversation naturally turns from the beautiful language of justification by faith to walking in the Spirit of Messiah Jesus and fruit being born in the life of the believing community. As DeSilva puts it, these last chapters are the “strategic continuation and, in a sense, the climax of the case Paul has been making in the first four and a half chapters of this letter.”[10] Following the display of the gospel message, in Galatians 5:13-26, Paul presents the Galatians with a choice: live in the works of the flesh which leads to death or choose the empowering presence of the Spirit which leads to love and true transformation.
Beginning in verse 13, Paul restates that the Galatians were “called to freedom” (5:13), but this freedom is not so that they might do whatever they want. As John Sailhamer puts it in his NIV Compact Bible Commentary, “The fact that Christians are not under the Mosaic Law should not be taken to mean they are free to live as they please.”[11] Instead it is a freedom for the purpose of loving one another. This is not contrary to the law; it is the fulfillment of it! Paul is in line with Jesus in verse 14 when he says, “For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal. 5:14, LEB). The Torah is not thrown to the wayside because of what Jesus has done. Its intention was always this: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40, LEB). Because of the gospel of Jesus, the Galatian church is able to love one another with the freedom gifted to them by Jesus’s death, resurrection, and inauguration of the kingdom. But he warns in verse 15, “if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another” (Gal. 5:15, LEB). If they use this freedom to serve their flesh, it will not lead to flourishing but death and utter destruction at the hands of one another. In these first verses of the section, Paul shows that the “true depth of relationship with God must be expressed in one’s relationships with others,” using our freedom in Christ for the good of others.[12]
It is helpful to note that the Galatians are not trying to add anything to their salvation. These followers of Jesus want only to be as faithful to the Messiah as possible. They are looking to figure out how to live by love rather than the flesh, and “therefore might ‘wish to be under the law’ (4:21). They are receptive to the rival teachers and to embracing Torah-driven life because they want all the help they can get in overcoming the cravings and impulses of their ‘old selves’ so as to live more closely in line with the ethical ideals taught by Paul.”[13] How do the Galatians discern the difference between actions motivated by the flesh and those by love without the Torah? Paul answers the question in verses 16-18: “But I say, live by the Spirit, and you will never carry out the desire of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16, LEB). Observance of Torah is not a negative thing, it’s just not the way that followers of Jesus gain the ability to deny their flesh. As Paul stated earlier in this very letter, “Therefore is the law opposed to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, certainly righteousness would have been from the law. But the scripture imprisoned all under sin, in order that the promise could be given by faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe” (Gal. 3:21-22, LEB). While the law gives guidelines and a way of knowing when a believer is in sin, it cannot provide the transformational power that comes from the Spirit of Jesus living and operating in the Galatian believers. This is what allows Paul to say, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Gal. 5:18, LEB). Paul has put the decision before them: live in the love, freedom, and transformation that results from life in the Spirit that empowers them rise above the lure of the flesh, which the law cannot do.
Paul fleshes out the result of that same decision he has put before them in verses 19-26. Paul believes as Jesus does here, that you will know a tree “by its fruit” (Matthew 7:16-20, LEB), and that it is clear from the fruit produced in the life of a person whether they are living by the flesh or by Spirit. Paul says, “deeds of the flesh are evident, which are sexual immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these” (Gal. 5:19-21, LEB). Notice the wide-ranging topics that these deeds of the flesh produce; they are comprehensive in covering every are of life from sexuality to worship to unity in the church. It affects everything.
He has told them this before and he will tell them again, he says in verse 21, that those who live this way will not inherit the kingdom of God. That sounds harsh after the talk of grace and justification by faith in Jesus, yet these ideas are not at odds with each other. The one who has not received grace cannot receive life in Jesus, the “unregenerate life produces fruit unto death, evidencing negative vices instead of the positive virtues produced by the Spirit.”[14] But, that is the fruit of the flesh; the fruit of the Spirit, the other, glorious option in the decision Paul has placed before them, “is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” and “against such things there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23). How could there be when love for one another fulfills the law? To live in the Spirit is to choose true life in which the end result is a harvest of love, joy, and peace, the very goal of the Torah.
This imagery of fruit and harvest being used to describe flourishing in the presence of God is one that can be found all across the Bible. In the beginning in the Garden of Eden, God placed the Tree of Life in the center of His good creation which he has prepared for his image-bearers to co-rule. Psalm 1 describes the ideal believer who meditates on God’s word exactly as a Tree of Life that will never die but “is like a tree planted by streams of water that gives its fruit in its season” and “its leaf also does not wither” (Psalm 1: 3, LEB). Jesus himself says in John 15 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him—this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:5-6, LEB). Jesus puts forth the same idea as Paul does here: the one who lives in the presence of God will produce much beautiful fruit in their life. But the one who is disconnected from the vine, living by their own power, will shrivel and wilt and eventually die. This is why “those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh together with its feelings and its desires” (Gal. 5:24, LEB). To choose Jesus and the life he has on offer is by definition a choice to crucify the flesh and live by the Spirit which transforms and empowers the follower of Jesus to produce love, joy, and peace in their lives. It renders the “deeds of the flesh” impotent and unable to produce seed, indeed “if you plant in your garden the seeds of the Spirit, the weeds of fleshly living won’t be able to grow as they otherwise would.”[15]
Paul’s case is straightforward in this small section of Galatians. It is simple to grasp, yet hard to live out. He says it this way: “If we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit. We must not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another” (Gal. 5:25-26, LEB). Living by and in the power of the Spirit means daily taking up the cross of Jesus and following the Spirit that leads first to crucifixion of the fleshly desires but certainly, also, to resurrection into the glorious life of Eden that produces joyous fruit in the community of faith. Therefore, in this community that is defined by life in the Spirit, there is no room for conceit, malignant instigation, or even envy. There is room only for love of one another which fulfills the law in the first place. The Galatians are trying to figure out how to live out faithfulness and allegiance to Jesus. How can they fulfill the life that they were called to and be the people of the Messiah? By walking in step with the Spirit of Jesus which produces in them the fruit and transformation which fulfills the law and builds the kingdom. Choose life in the Spirit, Paul cries, and bear the fruit of Messiah-shaped living. But he warns, choose to live in the power of your own flesh, and miss out on the new creation and the kingdom of God, and indeed see death born in your life.
Theological Truth
The law of Yahweh is now written on the hearts of all who received the Spirit upon baptism into the family of Jesus. This empowers followers of Jesus, members of the kingdom of God, to live out a radical ethic of love. It means that those who are living life in step with the Spirit are now able to live a qualitatively different life, the fruits of which will be evident to all around. But the results of life in the Spirit are not automatic. It requires cultivation. In modern, American churches, the fruit of the Spirit have sometimes been preached as though Paul is commanding the Galatians directly to be more loving, more self-controlled, more patient, and so on. This is not necessarily wrong. Certainly Paul wants the Galatians to grow in all these areas. But the command in the text is not to “be more loving.” The command in the text is to “live by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16) and “follow the Spirit (5:25). Notice how the two commands frame the entire passage, with the list of the fruit of the Spirit placed in between the two commands. Paul wants the Galatian church first and foremost to live by a different operating power. He grounds the new way of life in proximity to the Spirit and the power that is received from the Spirit. To become more loving, Paul does not ask the Galatians to grit their teeth and try harder. He instead exhorts them to live in step with the Spirit of Jesus who enables to them to love more. This is a crucial difference. It is life in the Spirit that produces transformation, not earning.
This theological truth is found elsewhere in Paul’s letters. In Romans 8 Paul equates life in the Spirit with adoption into the family of God for Gentile believers, as he does in Galatians: “For all those who are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself confirms to our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8: 14-16, LEB). Earlier in the same chapter, Paul makes a similar distinction to the one he makes in Galatians 5 between the fruit of the Spirit and the deeds of the flesh: “For the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom. 8:6, LEB). Again, following the Spirit of Jesus in the way one thinks, and acts produces peace in the believer, but in the flesh it produces death.
Likewise in Ephesians, Paul is concerned with getting the gospel of Jesus to be lived out in their community of faith. He prays for them that the Father “may grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:16-17, LEB). Here as in Galatians 5, Paul notes that the transformation and ability to surpass the flesh comes from the power of the Spirit of Jesus, by Jesus’ dwelling in the hearts of the believers. Across all of Paul’s letters it is the transforming power of the Holy Spirit that enables believers to produce transformative life not their own ability or willpower. The effort of the believer is to be directed towards proximity to the Spirit and loving God and others; the fruit will be produced by the Spirit working in them.
Application
Many disciples of Jesus in our present moment do not have much fruit. There is attendance at Church on Sundays. There are many verses in Instagram bios. Many Christians may even read their Bible and pray on a somewhat regular basis. These things may identify followers of Jesus in the public sphere as professing to believe. Yet, what reveals true, faithful followers of Jesus is living in congruence with the gospel of Jesus and demonstrating true love of other people; walking in step with the Holy Spirit is the only power that can enable them to do so. While in such a moment as this, filled with cultural animosity and hostility towards followers of Jesus, and countless revelations of abusers and fame seekers leading our churches, Christians must be defined by their love and walking in the Spirit. That is what leads to true faithfulness in everyday life. We must be truly transformed by the presence of the Spirit of Jesus. The only way we become truly missional and convincing of our faith to our culture is to live by the Spirit, seeing the fruit in Galatians 5:13-26 produced in us and our churches. An Instagram verse, attendance in church, and even reading the Bible and praying can only go so far in producing the true fruit that identifies a believer as a member of the family of the Messiah.
If both pastors and followers of Jesus want to present a faith that is compelling and undeniable in its power, they must be identified by their fruit. A good tree is known by its fruit, as is a bad one. Right now, in many circles, Christianity as a whole is known by its bad fruit: abuse, scandal, sexual abuse, cover-ups, and more. For the world to see the beauty, truth, and goodness of the faith, we must love one another as Jesus has loved us in the power of the Holy Spirit who is working in us to produce more love, more joy, and more peace, and so on. The everyday follower of Jesus must daily decide that proximity to the Spirit is what will produce the fruit they want to see in their faith, not checking all the right boxes outwardly.
Conclusion
Galatians is one of the earliest pieces of literature produced by the Jesus movement. Jews and Gentiles alike who placed their faith in Jesus had to rethink their previous loyalties and way of life as Jesus’s Kingdom began breaking into the present evil age. Thus, Paul writes to the Galatians who are trying to figure out this very thing to remind them of the gospel he preached to them and how they are to live as a result. He presents them with a choice: keep living in your own power, dictated by the desires of your fallen, fleshly nature, or turn to life in the Spirit which is the only thing that can produce true life and transformation in you. It is the Holy Spirit that allows followers of Jesus to uphold the law of Christ which is to sacrificially love and serve one another, producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives as we hold on to faith in him and walk in step with His Spirit. This is what modern followers of Jesus must face directly in our current cultural climate. Our post-Christian culture must see us love one another and live by different markers if we are to truly show them the love of Jesus and the beauty of living in His way. The world must see Christian disciples live in step with a different power; a power that enables us to love our enemies rather than hate and destroy them. To see true fruit born in our lives, we must put off the works of the flesh, reject divisiveness and jostling for position amongst one another and begin to walk in step with the Spirit of Messiah Jesus. We must stop relying on our own ability and focus on intimacy with the Spirit who empowers us to do what we could not before. Only then will we be living out the Kingdom-project that Jesus came to inaugurate, and the world know that we are His disciples.
Bibliography
DeSilva, David A. The Letter To The Galatians. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2018.
Fee, Gordon D., and Douglas Stuart. How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth. 4th ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2014.
Gupta, Nijay K. A Beginner's Guide To New Testament Studies: Understanding Key Debates. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2020.
Hawthorne, Gerald F., Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid. Dictionary Of Paul And His Letters. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
Hays, Richard B. The Conversion Of The Imagination: Paul As Interpreter Of Israel's Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2005.
Keener, Craig S. Galatians: A Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2019.
Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. 2nd ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014.
Lubeck, Ray. Read The Bible For A Change. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2005.
Sailhamer, John H. The NIV Compact Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994.
Ware, James P. Paul's Theology In Context. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2019.
Wright, N.T., and Michael F. Bird. The New Testament In Its World. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2019.
Wright, N. T. Galatians. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2021.
What do you think? What did I miss in the passage? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
My hope is that, though these papers are not perfect and reflect a young man’s faith, learning, and intellect in the middle of the process, they will be useful to you on your own journey.
Thank you for reading - until next time!
Hic sunt dracones.
[1] See Craig S. Keener, Galatians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2019, 7 and N. T. Wright, Galatians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.), 2021, 42 and David A. DeSilva, The Letter To The Galatians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.), 2018, 48.
[2] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth, 4th ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2014), 60.
[3] N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament In Its World (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2019), 397, emphasis original.
[4] W.R. Stegner, “Jew, Paul the” in Dictionary Of Paul And His Letters (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 503.
[5] James P. Ware, Paul's Theology In Context (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2019), 14.
[6] Nijay K. Gupta, A Beginner's Guide To New Testament Studies: Understanding Key Debates (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2020), 82.
[7] Craig S. Keener, Galatians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2019), 3.
[8] Richard B. Hays, The Conversion Of The Imagination: Paul As Interpreter Of Israel's Scripture Kindle Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.), 2005, 1,692.
[9] Ray Lubeck, Read The Bible For A Change (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2005), xvi.
[10] David A. DeSilva, The Letter To The Galatians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.), 2018, 442, emphasis original.
[11] John H. Sailhamer, NIV Compact Bible Commentary Grand (Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 1994), 546.
[12] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Second Edition. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2014), 539.
[13] David A. DeSilva, The Letter To The Galatians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.), 2018, 442.
[14] D. S. Dockery, “Fruit of the Spirit” in Dictionary Of Paul And His Letters (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 316-17.
[15] N. T. Wright, Galatians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.), 2021, 334.