Galatians 5:19

ἅτινά ἐστιν πορνεία. א*ABCP vulg. syrpesh. μοιχεία is inserted after ἐστιν by Text. Rec. with אcD(G)KL syrHarcl.

19. φανερά δέ ἐστιν. In Galatians 5:19-23 St Paul contrasts the signs that mark the nature of each kind of life.

δέ either explicativum, when the contrast always underlying δέ is to the summary statement that precedes—I have spoken of two sets of desires; I now unfold my meaning—or primarily in direct contrast to the life led by the Spirit. This perhaps is more in accordance with St Paul’s method of conducting his argument (cf. Galatians 5:16 note).

φανερά. Open to all to see. In contrast to the ἐπιθυμία of Galatians 5:16. Its position is emphatic; everywhere, especially in heathen lands, it is not necessary to look for these things.

τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός. When ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκὸς is τελεία (see Galatians 5:16 and cf. also James 1:15). The phrase is unique. Compare τὰ ἔργα τοῦ σκότους, Romans 13:12; Ephesians 5:11; and, τά ἔργα τοῦ διαβόλου 1 John 3:8. The contrast between τά ἔργα and ὁ καρπός, Galatians 5:22, is pithily expressed by Bengel, “Opera, infructuosa. Opera, in plurali; quia divisa sunt, et saepe inter se pugnantia, et vel singula carnem produnt. At fructus, bonus, Galatians 5:22, in singulari quia conjunctus et concors. Cf. Ephesians 5:11; Ephesians 5:9.”

ἅτινά ἐστιν. ἄτινα said by Win.-Schm., § 24.14 d, to be equivalent to ἅ, but it seems rather to mean that the following items fall under the class of τὰ ἔργα. Cf. Galatians 4:24 note.

πορνεία κ.τ.λ. Ramsay, Gal., pp. 446 sqq., pleading for the South Galatian theory, gives a very ingenious division of the fifteen faults mentioned into “three groups, corresponding to three different kinds of influence likely to affect recent South Galatian converts from paganism.” (1) Faults fostered by the old Anatolian religion: “fornication, impurity, wantonness, idolatry, sorcery or magic.” (2) Faults connected with the municipal life in the cities of Asia Minor: “enmities, strife, rivalry, outbursts of wrath, caballings, factions, parties, jealousies,” whether due to the rivalry of city against city or the result of personal or national jealousy within the cities. (3) Faults connected with the society and manners of the Graeco-Asiatic cities: “drinkings, revellings.” The division is perhaps the best that has been suggested, but the value of it as evidence for the South Galatian theory may be doubted. He shows without much difficulty that all these faults were in South Galatia, but is not so successful in his argument that they were not the faults of North Galatia also. For the first group describes sins hardly thought to be sins by any heathen; the second, sins at least as distinctive of clans and chieftains as of municipalities[143]; and the third, sins not really peculiar to Greek life.

[143] Ramsay writes (p. 452) “Vainglory and pride in petty distinctions was the leading motive in municipal life; the challenging of one another to competition in this foolish strife was almost the largest part of their history [i.e. the history of the Graeco-Asiatic cities] amid the peace and prosperity of the Roman rule. But that is not the type of the North Galatian tribes; the Gaulish element was an aristocratic one, and such are not the faults of an aristocracy.” It would appear that the Professor has forgotten his Scott’s novels, or does not believe in the accuracy of their description of the bickerings and jealousies of the petty aristocrats of the Highlands. This second group of faults would suit the latter admirably.

πορνεία, ἀκαθαρσία, ἀσέλγεια. Three forms of imparity, inclusive of but not limited to the public adoption of immorality in the temples. πορνεία is the specific sin of fornication; ἀκαθαρσία, is general; ἀσέλγεια is open shamelessness, probably sensuality, but possibly, as Ramsay suggests, the self-mutilation of the devotees in the Phrygian Mysteries (cf. Galatians 5:12), which seems to have been as prevalent in North as in South Galatia.