As part of my own daily devotions I hope to post my own paraphrases of the the Daily Lectionary here on my blog.  God willing, this will not be a short term thing.

Reading 1 – Galatians 5:18-25
But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of human nature are apparent:
adultery, sexual immorality, impurity, unbridled lust,
idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, wrath, selfishness,
dissensions, divisiveness, envy, murder,
drunkenness, excessive reveling, and the like.
I warn you now, as I warned you in the past,
that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Against such as these there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ have crucified their human nature
with its passions and desires.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Reading 2 – Psalm 1:1-6
Blessed is the one who does not
follow the advice of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the scoffers;
but delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
He is like a tree,
planted near streams of water,
that yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never wither.
He prospers in everything that he does.

Not so the wicked,
for they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in judgement,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the LORD knows the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Reading 3 – Luke 11:42-46
[Jesus said:] “Woe to you Pharisees!
You pay tithes of mint and rue and every kind of herb,
but you neglect justice and the love for God.
These you ought to have done, without overlooking the others.
Woe to you Pharisees!
You love the seats of honor in synagogues
and to be greeted in marketplaces.
Woe to you!
For you are like unmarked graves which people walk on without even realizing it.”

Then one of the scholars of the law said to [Jesus],
“Teacher, by saying these things you are insulting us too.”
And he said, “Woe to you scholars of the law also!
For you load people down with burdens hard to carry,
but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”

Reflection for Today – On Galatians
By my count there are 17 things listed as works of human nature, or as some translations put them:  “works of the flesh.”  And Paul leaves room for even more when he adds the phrase “and the like.”  I decided to use the term “human nature” since I think it is a more accurate understanding of what Paul is trying to convey and it does not carry with it a gnostic tendency towards a flesh/spirit dichotomy which can see the material, corporeal world as evil and the spiritual world as good.  Christianity has always affirmed the value of the body/flesh.  John writes in the his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  And the word became flesh . . .”  The Apostle’s creed also states: “We believe in the resurrection of the body.”  Not just the soul, not just some floating spirit, but human flesh and blood.

No, let’s leave this dangerous dichotomy behind once and for all.  What Paul is getting at is the difference between a life lived in Christ and in the Spirit and a life lived focusing on the human desires, which can be quite negative.  And for Paul the difference is readily apparent.  But instead of an exhaustive list for the former, he gives us seven fruits of the Spirit.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”  And please note that Paul fully expects every Christian to exhibit these fruits in his or her life.  Unlike the various gifts of the Spirit that he lists in other letters, and which are not given to all, followers of Christ should show all the qualities he describes as fruit of the Spirit.