EXHIBIT 5

                  [MULDOON, MURPHY & FAUCETTE LLP LETTERHEAD]

                               January 11, 1999

Board of Directors
FirstSpartan Financial Corp
380 E. Main Street
Spartanburg, South Carolina  29302

     Re:  FirstSpartan Financial Corp.
          Registration Statement on Form S-3 for the Offer and Sale of 250,000
          Shares

Gentlemen:

     You have requested our opinion as special counsel for FirstSpartan
Financial Corp. ("Corporation"), a Delaware corporation, in connection with the
above-referenced registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

     In rendering this opinion, we understand that the common stock of the
Corporation will be offered and sold in the manner described in the Prospectus,
which is part of the registration statement.  We have examined such records and
documents and made such examination as we have deemed relevant in connection
with this opinion.

     Based upon and subject to the foregoing, and limited in all respects to
matters of Delaware law, it is our opinion that the 250,000 shares of common
stock of the Corporation covered by the registration statement will upon
issuance be legally issued, fully paid and nonassessable.

     The following provisions of the Corporation's Certificate of Incorporation
may not be given effect by a court applying Delaware law, but in our opinion the
failure to give effect to such provisions will not affect the legally issued,
fully paid and nonassessable status of the Common Stock:

     Subsection (C)(3) of Article VII, which grants the Board the authority to
     construe and apply the provisions of that Article, subsection (C)(4) of
     Article VII, to the extent that subsection obligates any person to provide
     to the Board the information that subsection authorizes the Board to
     demand, and subsection (C)(1) of Article VII, to the extent that subsection
     limits the amount of shares of Common Stock a shareholder may vote, in each
     case to the extent, if any, that a court applying Delaware law were to
     impose equitable limitations upon such authority.

     This opinion is furnished for use as an exhibit to the registration
statement.  We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion as an exhibit to the
registration statement and to the reference to us under the heading "Legal
Opinions."

                                        Very truly yours,


                                        /s/Muldoon, Murphy & Faucette LLP
                                        MULDOON, MURPHY & FAUCETTE LLP