Thomas Aquinas Commentary Galatians 5:13-15

"For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only [use] not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another." — Galatians 5:13-15 (ASV)

Having proposed an example of standing and eliminated an obstacle to it, he now establishes its mode.

First, he establishes the mode of standing; secondly, he gives an explanation (verse 14).

Regarding the first point, he does three things:

1. He sets down the condition of this state.
2. He describes its abuse.
3. He asserts its proper mode (verse 13).

The condition of standing is liberty. The condition of any given state pertains either to liberty or to bondage, but the state of faith in Christ, to which the Apostle urges them, pertains to liberty and is liberty itself. Therefore, he says: For you, brethren, have been called to liberty. It is as if to say: They are indeed troubling you, for they are drawing you from what is better to what is worse, because you have been called by God to the liberty of grace: You have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons (Romans 8:15); We are not the children of the bondwoman but of the free (Romans 4:31). You, I say, who are free in Christ, they want to lead into bondage.

But this state is misused if it declines and if the liberty of the spirit is perverted into slavery of the flesh. The Galatians were free from the Law, but so that they would not suppose this was a license to commit sins forbidden by the Law, the Apostle addresses the abuse of liberty, saying, Only do not make liberty an occasion for the flesh. It is as if to say: You are free, but not so that you can misuse your liberty by supposing that you may sin with impunity. But take heed, lest perhaps this your liberty become a stumbling block to the weak (1 Corinthians 8:9).

Now, the mode of standing is through charity; therefore, he says: but by charity of the spirit serve one another. In fact, the entire state consists in charity, without which a person is nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1 and following). Moreover, it is according to the various degrees of charity that various states are distinguished. Consequently, the state of grace does not exist by virtue of a desire of the flesh but by charity of the spirit—that is, a charity that proceeds from the Holy Spirit, through whom we should be subject to and serve one another: Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2); outdoing one another in showing honor (Romans 12:10).

But since he said earlier that they have been called to liberty, why does he now say, serve one another? I answer that charity requires that we serve one another; nevertheless, this service is free. Here one might interject that, as the Philosopher says, a person is free who exists for his own sake, whereas a slave is one who exists for the sake of another as a mover or an end. For a slave is moved to his work not by himself but by a master and for the benefit of his master. Charity, therefore, has liberty as its moving cause, because it works of itself: The charity of Christ presses us spontaneously to work (2 Corinthians 5:14). But it is a servant when, putting one’s own interests aside, it devotes itself to things beneficial to its neighbor.

Then, when he says, For all the law is fulfilled in one word, he explains what he said:

1. About charity.
2. About not making liberty an occasion for the flesh (verse 16).

As to the first, he admonishes them to follow charity for two reasons:

1. Because of the benefit we obtain in fulfilling charity.
2. Because of the injury incurred by neglecting charity (verse 15).

The benefit we obtain in fulfilling charity is of the highest order, because in it we fulfill the whole law. Therefore, he says, For all the law is fulfilled in one word. It is as if to say: Charity must be maintained, because the whole law is fulfilled in one word—namely, in the one precept of charity: He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law (Romans 13:8), and Love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10). Therefore, he says in 1 Timothy 1:5: The end of the commandment is charity.

However, it is said in Matthew 22:40: On these two commandments—namely, of the love of God and of neighbor—depend the whole law and the prophets. Therefore, it is not fulfilled in the one precept alone. I answer that the love of God includes the love of a neighbor: This commandment we have from God, that he who loves God, love also his brother (1 John 4:21). Conversely, we love our neighbor for the love of God. Consequently, the whole law is fulfilled in the one precept of charity.

For the precepts of the law are reduced to that one precept. Indeed, precepts are either moral, ceremonial, or judicial. The moral precepts are those of the Decalogue: three concern the love of God, and the other seven, the love of our neighbor. The judicial precepts are, for example, that whoever steals anything shall restore it fourfold, and others like this; they pertain absolutely to the love of a neighbor. The ceremonial precepts concern sacrifices and related matters, which are reduced to the love of God. And so it is plain that all are fulfilled in the one precept of charity: You shall love your neighbor as yourself, which is also written in Leviticus 19:18.

He says, as yourself, not “as much as yourself,” because according to the order of charity, a person should love himself more than his neighbor. Now this is explained in three ways:

1. As referring to the genuineness of the love. To love is to will good to someone; therefore, we are said to love both the one to whom we will good and the very good that we will for someone, but not in the same way. For when I will good for myself, I love myself absolutely for my own sake, but the good that I will for myself, I do not love for its own sake but for mine. Accordingly, I love my neighbor as myself in the same way that I love myself: when I will good for him for his own sake, and not because it is useful or pleasant for me.
2. As referring to the justice of love. Each thing is inclined to want for itself that which is most eminent in it, and in a human being, understanding and reason are the most eminent. Therefore, a person loves himself who wants for himself the good of understanding and reason. Accordingly, you love your neighbor as yourself when you will for him the good of understanding and reason.
3. As referring to order. Just as you love yourself for the sake of God, so you should love your neighbor for the sake of God—namely, so that he may attain to God.

Then, when he says, But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you are not consumed by one another, he urges them to follow charity because of the harm we incur if we neglect it. Here he continues to speak to the Galatians as spiritual people, not bringing up their greater vices but mentioning ones that seem to be minor, such as sins of the tongue. Therefore, he says: If you bite and devour one another, take heed that you are not consumed by one another.

It is as if to say: All the law is fulfilled in love. But if you bite one another—that is, partially destroy the good name of your neighbor by slander (for one who bites does not take the whole, but a part)—and devour—that is, destroy his good name entirely and completely shame him by slander (for he who devours consumes all): Do not speak evil against one another, brothers; he who speaks evil against a brother speaks evil against the law (James 4:11). If you neglect charity in that way, I say, take heed of the calamity that threatens you: namely, that you might be devoured by one another. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision (Philippians 3:2); I have spent my strength without cause and in vain (Isaiah 49:4). For as Augustine says, through the vice of contention and envy, pernicious rivalries are bred among people, and both life and society are thereby brought to ruin.