But if you bite and devour one another; take heed you be not consumed one of another.

“What, then, is that-how execrable should it appear to you-which I have learnt with extreme anguish and grief of mind, to wit, that there are not wanting those who defile the temples of God, and the members sanctified after confession and made glorious, with a disgraceful and infamous concubinage, associating their beds promiscuously with women's! In which, even if there be no pollution of their conscience, there is a great guilt in this very thing, that by their offence originate examples for the ruin of Others. There ought also to be no contentions and emulations among you, since the Lord left to us His peace, and it is written, "Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself." "But if ye bite and find fault with one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another." From abuse and revilings also I entreat you to abstain, for "revilers do not attain the kingdom of God; " and the tongue which has confessed Christ should be preserved sound and pure with its honour. For he who, according to Christ's precept, speaks things peaceable and good and just, daily confesses Christ. We had renounced the world when we were baptized; but we have now indeed renounced the world when tried and approved by God, we leave all that we have, and have followed the Lord, and stand and live in His faith and fear.”

“That he may not distress them, he does not assert this, though he knew it was the case, but mentions it ambiguously. For he does not say, "Inasmuch as ye bite one another," nor again does he assert, in the clause following, that they shall be consumed by each other; but "take heed that ye be not consumed one of another," and this is the language of apprehension and warning, not of condemnation. And the words which he uses are expressly significant; he says not merely, "ye bite," which one might do in a passion, but also "ye devour," which implies a bearing of malice. To bite is to satisfy the feeling of anger, but to devour is a proof of the most savage ferocity. The biting and devouring he speaks of are not bodily, but of a much more cruel kind; for it is not such an injury to taste the flesh of man, as to fix one's fangs in his soul. In proportion as the soul is more precious than the body, is damage to it more serious. "Take heed that ye be not consumed one of another." For those who commit injury and lay plots, do so in order to destroy others; therefore he says, Take heed that this evil fall not on your own heads. For strife and dissensions are the ruin and destruction as well of those who admit as of those who introduce them, and eats out every thing worse than a moth does.”

“Having set forth the example of standing firm and having removed its impediment, here he indicates the manner of it. And first he sets down the manner of standing; second he explains it, where he says for the whole law, etc. Concerning the first he does three things. First he sets down the condition of the state; second he removes the abuse of standing; third he indicates the manner of standing. The condition of standing is indeed liberty. For every condition of a state pertains either to servitude or to liberty; but the state of the faith of Christ, to which the Apostle leads, pertains to liberty and is liberty itself. And therefore he says for you, etc., as if to say: they rightly disturb you, because they lead you away from the better to the worse, since you were called - namely by God - unto the liberty of grace. Romans 8:15: you have not received the spirit of servitude again in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, etc. Above, 4:31: we are not children of the handmaid, but of the free woman, etc. You, I say, who are free through Christ, they wish to lead into servitude. Now the abuse of the state is if it should slip into something worse, and the liberty of the spirit be perverted into the servitude of the flesh. But the Galatians were already free from the law; yet lest they believe it lawful for them to commit the sins which the law forbade, therefore the Apostle adds the abuse of liberty, saying only not, etc., as if to say: you are free, yet in such a way that you should not abuse your liberty, thinking that you may sin with impunity. 1 Corinthians 8:9: see lest perhaps this license of yours become a stumbling block to the weak. Now the manner of standing is through charity, whence he says but through the charity of the spirit, etc. Now the whole state consists in charity, without which man is nothing, 1 Corinthians 13:1f. And according to the diverse degrees of charity, diverse states are distinguished. Thus therefore the state of grace is not through the affection of the flesh, but through the charity of the spirit, that is, which proceeds from the Holy Spirit, through whom we ought to be subject to one another and to serve. Below, 6:2: bear one another's burdens, etc. Romans 12:10: in honor preferring one another, etc. But since above he says that they are called unto liberty, what is it that now he says serve one another? To which it must be said that this is what charity requires, that we serve one another, and yet it is free. It must be known, however, that, as the Philosopher says, he is free who is the cause of himself, but the slave is for the sake of another, whether as the one moving or as the end: because the slave is not moved to his work by himself, but by his master, and for the sake of the advantage of his master. Charity therefore, as regards the moving cause, has liberty, because it works from itself. 2 Corinthians 5:14: the charity of Christ urges us - spontaneously, namely, to work. But it is a slave, when, having set aside its own advantages, it accommodates itself to the advantages of its neighbors. Consequently, when he says the whole law, etc., he explains what he says, and first concerning love, second concerning liberty not to be given as an occasion to the flesh, where he says walk in the spirit, etc. Concerning the first, he exhorts to the pursuit of charity: first on account of the advantage which we obtain in its fulfillment; second on account of the harm which we incur by the neglect of charity, where he says but if one another, etc. Now the advantage which we obtain from the fulfillment of charity is greatest, because in it we fulfill the whole law. And therefore he says for all, etc., as if to say: therefore charity is to be had, because the whole law is fulfilled in one word, namely in the one precept of charity. Romans 13:8: he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. And in the same chapter it is said: the fullness of the law is love. And therefore he says, 1 Timothy 1:5: the end of the precept is charity. But on the contrary, because it is said in Matthew 12: on these two commandments - namely of the love of God and of neighbor - the whole law depends, and the prophets; therefore it is not fulfilled in one precept only. I respond. It must be said that in the love of God is included the love of neighbor. 1 John 4:21: this commandment we have from God, that he who loves God, love also his brother. And conversely we love our neighbor on account of God: therefore the whole law is fulfilled in the one precept of charity. For the precepts of the law are reduced to that precept. For all the precepts are either moral, or ceremonial, or judicial. The moral precepts indeed are the precepts of the Decalogue, of which three pertain to the love of God, the other seven to the love of neighbor. The judicial precepts, however, are such as that whoever steals something should restore fourfold, and things similar to these, which likewise pertain to the love of neighbor. The ceremonial precepts, however, are sacrifices and things of this kind, which are reduced to the love of God. And thus it is clear that all things are fulfilled in the one precept of charity, you shall love your neighbor as yourself: and it is written in Leviticus 19:18. But he says as yourself, not as much as yourself, because man, according to the order of charity, ought to love himself more than another. Now it is explained in three ways. In one way, so that it be referred to the truth of love. For to love is to will good to someone. And therefore we are said to love someone to whom we will good, and we also love that good which we will for him; but in different ways, because when I will good for myself, I love myself simply on account of myself, but that good which I will for myself, I love not for its own sake, but on account of myself. Then, therefore, I love my neighbor as myself, that is, in the same way as myself, when I will good for him for his own sake, not because he is useful or delightful to me. In the second way, so that it be referred to the justice of love. For each thing is inclined to will for itself that which is most excellent in it; but the most excellent thing in man is intellect and reason; he therefore loves himself, who wills for himself the good of intellect and reason. Then, therefore, you love your neighbor as yourself, when you will for him the good of intellect and reason. In the third way, so that it be referred to order, namely that just as you love yourself on account of God, so also you should love your neighbor on account of Him, namely that he may arrive at God. Consequently, when he says but if one another, etc., he leads to the pursuit of charity from the harm which we incur if we neglect it. Here he speaks to the Galatians as still, as it were, spiritual, abstaining from the mention of greater vices, and he makes mention of those which seem lesser, namely of the vices of the tongue. And therefore he says but if one another, etc., as if to say: in love the whole law is fulfilled; but if you bite one another, that is, by detracting from your neighbor you take away his reputation in part - for he who bites does not take the whole, but a part. And devour, that is, you take away his whole reputation and utterly confound him by detracting totally. For he who devours, absorbs the whole. James 4:11: do not detract from one another, my brothers, etc. If thus, I say, you neglect charity, see the harm which threatens you, namely that you be consumed by one another. Philippians 3:2: beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, etc. Isaiah 49:4: and in vain have I consumed my strength, etc. For as Augustine says: by the vice of contention and envy, pernicious quarrels are nourished among men, by which society and life are consumed.”

“This I say then, walk in the Spirit,.... The advice the apostle thinks fit to give, and which he would have observed, is, to "walk in the Spirit", that is, either after the Spirit of God; making the word inspired by him the rule of behaviour, which as it is the standard of faith, so of practice, and is the lamp unto our feet, and the light unto our path; taking him himself for a guide, who not only guides into all truth, but in the way of holiness and righteousness unto the land of uprightness; and depending upon his grace and strength for assistance throughout the whole of our walk and conversation: or in the exercise of the graces of the Spirit of God; as in the exercise of faith upon the person and grace of Christ, of which the Spirit is the author; and in love to God, Christ, and one another, which is a fruit of the Spirit; and in humility, lowliness of mind, meekness and condescension; all which is to walk in the Spirit, or spiritually, and strengthens the argument for love the apostle is upon: and this he encourages to by observing, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh; he does not say there shall be no flesh, nor any lust of the flesh in them if they walk spiritually; or that the flesh should not act and operate in them; or that they should do no sinful action; all which is only true of Christ; and the contrary is to be found and observed in all true Christians, though ever so spiritual; but that they should not fulfil or perfect the lust of the flesh; should not give up themselves entirely to the power and dictates of the flesh, so as to be under it and at its command, and be obedient servants and slaves unto it; for, in this sense only, such that are spiritual do not, commit sin, they do not make a trade of it, it is not their constant employ or course of conversation.”

“If ye bite and devour one another - These Churches seem to have been in a state of great distraction; there were continual altercations among them. They had fallen from the grace of the Gospel; and, as Christ no longer dwelt in their hearts by faith, pride, anger, ill-will, and all unkind and uncharitable tempers, took possession of their souls, and they were in consequence alternately destroying each other. Nothing is so destructive to the peace of man, and to the peace of the soul, as religious disputes; where they prevail, religion in general has little place.”