sexual desires/works of the flesh: LEV 18/GAL 5:18


For you
were called to freedom
[..]
& have crucified the flesh
with its desires

~*~



~*~


THIS PASSAGE,
once more,
presents certain striking interpretative
gaps?


The most obvious
is the leap in verse 18
from the discourse on libertinism
or licentiousness in the previous verses
to being
"under the Law."


On
my reading,
in this passage PAUL is guarding
an obvious danger
of mis-
understanding
aroused by his discourse.


As I have shown
in detail
in the previous mydistories,
Galatians 3:12 amounts to a disavowal
of Leviticus 18
as the guide to Christian
living.


Leviticus 18:5 reads
"He who does them
lives by them,"
which PAUL understands to mean:
One who does the commandments lives by them
and NOT by
faith.


But Paul argues:
Since we know from Chavakuk
that the righteous live by faith,
he who lives by them
and not by faith
is NOT righteous -
is NOT justified.


Christians,
therefore,
no longer live
by "them."


What is
crucial to remember
is that LEV 18:5
is the introduction to
the catalogue of forbidden
sexual connections.


One could,
therefore,
very easily imagine Paul
at the end of the letter
becoming aware of
the enormous danger
for [mis]interpretation
that his letter
COULD produce?


IF he has repudiated,
as it were, LEV 18,
does it not follow that its provisions
are no longer valid
and sexual license
[to fuck around freely]
is permitted?


THAT
is precisely the conclusion
that SOME Corinthian Christians
seem to have reached,
and it is what Paul seeks to counter
in chaps 5 & 6 of
Galatians.


It is,
therefore,
most attractive
to read the passage just quoted
as carrying its obvious sense
in which desires and passions of the flesh
are just what would be referred to
in a modern use of these terms,
namely,
sexual desire
and passion!


THIS interpretation
affords an elegant bridge
over the apparent gap
between verses 17 & 18,
in the light of
ROMANS 7.


We NOW
understand precisely
the connection between the "desires of the flesh,"
and being "under the Law,"
for it is the Law
which produces the desires of the flesh
and THUS
to licentiousness,
jealousy,
and
the rest.

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engel
31 jul 2005 - bewerkt op 15 mrt 2008 - meld ongepast verhaal
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