Wisdom of Solomon 9:15

Deuterocanon

13 For who can learn the counsel of God? Or who can discern what the Lord wills? 14 For the reasoning of mortals is worthless, and our designs are likely to fail; 15 for a perishable body weighs down the soul, and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful mind. 16 We can hardly guess at what is on earth, and what is at hand we find with labor; but who has traced out what is in the heavens? 17 Who has learned your counsel, unless you have given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high?

Galatians 5:17

New Testament

15 However, if you continually bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another. 16 But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity,

 Notes and References

"... Against common scholarly opinion, even early Jewish sources often distinguish soul from body. We might expect this distinction in Josephus and other Hellenized sources, but it also appears in many sources traditionally viewed as less Hellenized. Jewish sources, both those traditionally regarded as more Hellenized and other sources, also usually embraced the immortality of the soul. Some even used various forms of the Greek idea of the body as a tomb. (Wisdom of Solomon 9:15; Josephus, War 2.154-55) ... In Romans as in Galatians, the “flesh” offers an inadequate response to God’s righteous standard in the law (Romans 7:5, 14, 25; 8:3–4, 7; compare 2:28; 3:20); the Spirit, by contrast, empowers true righteousness, providing an internal rather than external law (Romans 8:2, 4; compare 7:6; Galatians 3:2, 5; 5:18, 23). The mind of the Spirit, then, is a mind led by righteousness such as embodied in the principles of the law (compare Romans 8:2), perhaps fulfilling the ideal of meditation on the law (Deuteronomy 6:6; Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2; 119:15, 23, 48, 78, 148) and providing obedience (Ezekiel 36:27; compare Deuteronomy 5:29; 30:6). This mind directed by the Spirit is undoubtedly at least part of what it means to be “led by the Spirit” (Romans 8:14; compare Galatians 5:16–23) ..."

Keener, Craig S. "'Fleshly' Versus Spirit Perspectives in Romans 8:5-8" in Porter, Stanley E. (ed.) Paul: Jew, Greek, and Roman (pp. 211-229) Brill, 2008

 User Comments

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.