Elements v. Spirit

Martinus de Boer (Galatians, 372) notes that the verb “walk by the Spirit” in Galatians 5:25 isn’t the normal peritateo but stoicheo, which means “stand or move in a row or line” as in a military formation. De Boer notes that “there may be an allusion, whether intentional or subconscious, back to the stoicheia tou kosmou (‘elements of the world’), which the Galatians once venerated. . . . Whereas they once ‘followed’ the stoicheia, they are now to ‘follow’ (stoicheo) the Spirit.”

I suspect it is a deliberate allusion, since it seems to be prepared for from chapter 4. There, Paul says that the stoicheia kept “us” in bondage while “we” were children. That bondage was broken by the mission of the Son and the Spirit, who brought “us” from the semi-slavery of childhood to full sonship. The Spirit of the Son is the Spirit of sonship, the Abrahamic inheritance. Keeping in the rank of the Spirit (like Israel marching through the wilderness behind the Spirit-glory) is what’s demanded of sons who have outgrown elementary school.

Changing registers, we can say: The sending of the Son and Spirit transformed the physics of human existence, replacing elements with the Spirit.