In Galatians 5:16, emphasizing the importance living a holy lifestyle not one that seeks immediate gratification of the human desires. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans and Galatians, contributed to by Robert Keith Rapa and edited by Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, explains, “…this life “by the Spirit” will never fulfill the desires of the sinful nature” (629). The difficulty of a Christ-like life is stressed here, because Paul writes due to the sinful nature of the Galatians, saying they will not gratify their humanity with a godly life. In Galatians 5:17, Paul explains that acts that gratify the flesh are not permissible. The next verse expresses freedom from the law. Freedom from these sinful acts and experiencing the Spirit comes from being guided by the Holy Spirit not through Judaism’s laws (Rapa, 629). The laws of the Jewish people do not, Paul argues, bring about experiencing the Holy Spirit or freedom from human sinfulness. Outlining the many kinds of human sins, Galatians 5: 16-21 provides a warning against the acts mentioned within these verses. To being, starting with sexual sin in 5:16, Paul touches as issue that was highly relevant to the Galatians. “In the Greco-Roman world, sexual activity was exceedingly common and not always regarded as particularly …show more content…
Until reading this commentary, I had never considered the weight of this word choice. In the case of planting or farming, which as a five-year member of my county 4-H program, I am fairly familiar, one is given a package of seeds or a plant, but it is up to that person to water, nurture, and care for those seeds or plants for it to grow and yield crop. The Spirit gives each person unique, beautiful gifts, but those gifts can shrivel and be lifeless if not used. It is up to us, those who have received the gifts to cultivate and care for them, allowing them to grow and be used to “feed the world” in a spiritual sense. We do this “feeding” by sharing the yield of our fruits and giving to others the products of our