“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not doing what you want to do. — Paul's anthropological conflict: sarx (flesh) and pneuma (Spirit) are locked in irreconcilable opposition ('antikeimai' — set against, oppose), creating an internal warfare ('anthistēmi' — resist) that prevents believers from actualizing their chosen desires, a picture of the fragmented self without Spirit-empowerment.
Church Fathers on Galatians 5:17
“For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are contrary the one to the other: that you may not do the things that you would.” Here some make the charge that the Apostle has divided man into two parts, and that he states the essence of which he is compounded to be conflicting with itself, and that the body has a contest with the soul. But this is not so, most certainly; for by “the flesh,” he does not mean the body; if he did, what…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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