ABSTRACT
The spirit, as the spirit of God, is a force active in the conversion, moral education and edification of the Galatian pagans. The pneumatic conception of the moral life as graciously enabled is a crucial Pauline claim. This desire to extricate the ethical dimension of the Law and the related attempt to spiritualise the moral life would both be alien, though not anathema, to Paul's Muslim readers. This chapter presents the commentary to scrutinise the ethical exhortation in Galatians. It examines the ethical material in the context of the new covenant of the spirit. This chapter discusses Paul's novel covenantal theology as being the direct inspiration for his ethical exhortations to the Galatian believers. Some exegetes might object that Paul is hard enough to understand as it is, without a Muslim exegete re-ordering his thoughts. Paul now begins to apprise his readers of the moral burden of Christian salvation, the serious ethical consequences of spiritual liberty.
