“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. — Paul's foundational imperative: 'peripateo en pneumati' (walk by/in the Spirit) provides the operative principle that prevents 'epithumia tēs sarkos' (desires of the flesh) from taking control, establishing the Spirit as the liberating power opposing fleshly impulses.
Church Fathers on Galatians 5:16
“But I say, Walk by the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Here he points out another path which makes duty easy, and secures what had been said, a path whereby love is generated, and which is fenced in by love. For nothing, nothing I say, renders us so susceptible of love, as to be spiritual, and nothing is such an inducement to the Spirit to abide in us, as the strength of love. Therefore he says, “Walk by the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the lust…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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