Galatians 5

Stand Fast in Freedom

1 Stand fast in the freedom that Christ won for us; do not let yourselves be shackled back into the yoke of slavery.

2-4 I have said it before and I will say it again: if you become circumcised as a sign of reliance upon the Law, Christ becomes useless to you. You obligate yourself to follow the Law perfectly, and you will fail. You cannot be justified before God by the Law; if you try, you sever yourself from Christ and His grace.

5-6 Our hope is in righteousness through faith and the Spirit, which we express by love. Circumcision and uncircumcision are meaningless to those who have the love of Christ.

7-10 You were doing so well. What cut you off from the path you followed? Who persuaded you? They cannot have your best interest at heart, or they would not be trying to hinder your freedom like this. (It doesn’t take much, does it? “A pinch of yeast leavens a pound of dough.”) And actually, I worry more for them than for you. I am sure you will come around; but whoever is trying to mislead you will have much to answer for, one day.

11-12 I have heard that some of them even say that I, Paul, preach circumcision! Ha! If I am preaching circumcision, why do the Jews persecute me? They tell lies to cut off your freedom in Christ -- I wish they would “cut off” themselves when they are performing circumcisions!

Freedom is not a License to Sin

13-15 Relish your freedom, but remember, your freedom in Christ is not a license to indulge your flesh. If you engage in back-biting, instead of loving your neighbors as yourselves, you will eventually bite each other to death. Remember always how the Law is fulfilled: in love and service for one another.

16-20 Walk in the Spirit and you will not indulge the instincts of your flesh. The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit sets its desire against the flesh. Therefore, you cannot follow the desires of your lower nature, because the two are mutually exclusive. Those under the Law follow the flesh, even though they try to fight it; but those under the Spirit do not follow the flesh in the first place.

19-21, 26 You know perfectly well what I mean when I speak of indulging the “desires of the flesh”: sexual immorality, impurity of mind, sensuality, worship of false gods, witchcraft, hatred, quarrelling, jealousy, bad temper, rivalry, factionalism, carousing, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like that. None of us should be ambitious for our own reputation, or seek our own glory, or indulge our vanity; such motives just make us jealous of one another. As I have told you before, those who indulge the desires of the flesh will never inherit God’s kingdom.

Fruit of the Spirit

22-24 The Spirit, on the other hand, produces fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, fidelity, tolerance and self-control. In this, the Law and the Spirit agree, because the Law does not forbid such things.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. For if we belong to Christ Jesus, we have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

1 Christ released us into freedom, so stand firm, and do not become subject to yoke of slavery.

2 Listen: I, Paul, tell you that if you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.

3 And I declare furthermore to any man becoming circumcised, that he will be required to obey the law entirely.

4 Whoever seeks to be justified by law cuts himself off from Christ and falls from grace.

5 While we, in spirit by faith, eagerly await righteousness in all hope.

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any power, but faith working through love.

7 You were doing well; what hindered you from being persuaded by the truth?

8 Such persuasion does not come from He who calls you.

9 A little yeast leavens the entire lump of dough.

10 I am confident that you will not conclude otherwise about the Lord.

11 As for me, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? For then the offense of the cross has been removed.

12 How I wish that those who trouble you would be chopped off.

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers; only do not use your freedom as a foundation for fleshly acts, but rather for serving one another through love.

14 For the entire law was fulfilled in one teaching, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

15 Do you not see, that if you engage in biting and devouring each other, you destroy one another?

16 So I tell you, walk in the spirit and in no way fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

17 For the flesh desires contrary to the spirit, and the spirit contrary to the flesh, for these are opposed to one another, so that you might not do whatever you want.

18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to law.

19 Now, the works of the flesh are wll-known, including fornication, impurity, indecent conduct,

20 idolatry, making potions, hostilities, rivalry, jealousy, angry outbursts, selfish ambition, factionalism, dogma,

21 envy, drunkeness, carousing, and similar things, which I warn you about now just as I warned you before: those practicing such acts will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience under tribulation, kindness, goodness, faith,

23 meekness, self-control; no law is contrary to such things.

24 Those belonging to Christ have crucified the flesh together with passions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, we conform to the Spirit.

26 We must not become vainglorious, provoking and envying one another.

1 To aOr for freedom. freedom us Christ freed; stand firm therefore and not again to yoke of slavery be subject.

2 Behold I Paul tell you that if you be circumcised Christ you nothing will benefit.

3 And I testify furthermore to every man being-circumcised b Although there is no grammatical clue, this cannot apply to Jews circumcised before conversion; thus either becoming circumcised or being one of those who rely on circumcision. that obligated he is entire law to do c Idiom, to accomplish, to follow/obey..

4 You are-cut-off dAlthough the tense of this verb (and the following verbs in the verse), called the aorist indicative, generally refers to an event in the past, it may be read as a discontinuous present or, as here, possibly a timeless statement. from Christ whoever by law is justified e Both the context and the Greek “middle voice” affect the meaning; the best idiomatic translation might be “whoever attempts to gain justification for himself by law”., of grace you fall away.

5 For we in fAmbiguous. This could indicate the form or medium by which hope comes to us, in spirit, that is, spiritually (as opposed to intellectually, physically, etc.); or from (the) spirit, in which which case it would indicate the Holy Spirit as the personal agent bringing hope to us. spirit by faith hope of righteousness g This difficult jumble of words is best explained by the Greek habit of using an “of” phrase (genitive case) following a “verbal noun” – a verbal noun being a noun made from a verb, like “hope” – as if the verbal noun retains the sense of a verb and the “of” phrase is its direct object. A decent English equivalent would be an adverbial phrase, “hoping-for righteousness”. (“Hope” is in the form of a direct object, but it is not unknown for words in this form to be used adverbially, especially as adverbs of manner. See Wallace at 200-201.) await eagerly.

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision anything effects h Notice the English verb “effect” means to achieve a result. nor uncircumcision, but faith through love working.

7 You were running well; what iOr who? you hindered j From a root meaning to cut off, used in the sense of interrupt (as a conversation). from the truth not k As is often the case, the literal translation creates a double negative in English, or more accurately, what appears to be a double negative — the first negative being implied by “hinder”. In Greek, the second negative word (or particle) simply effects the strength of negation. In this instance, the phrasing actually makes the implied negative of “hinder” more hypothetical — something like, “What might have hindered you?” to be persuaded lOr to follow, to obey, to believe. Most translations give “obey” in v. 8 and “persuasion” in v. 9. However, the same root is used in both verses and it seems better to use the same English root, as well; Paul clearly means to tie the two verses together.?

8 The persuasion is not from the calling-you.

9 Little yeast entire lump-of-dough leavens.

10 I am persuaded mAlt. confident. about you in nOr by; or regarding. lord that nothing otherwise you will think.

11 And I, brothers, if circumcision still I preach, why still I am persecuted? For then has been removed the impediment of the cross.

12 How I wish that would be cut off oOr chopped off, i.e., castrated. This is an extended play on words; the root of hindered in v.7 is the same as cut off here. We say that somebody is “cut off” in a conversation, meaning hindered in his speech, and the Greek use variations of “cut off” more broadly in the general sense “to impede” or “to hinder”. This makes possible a pun that refers to both circumcision and, in this verse, castration. the upsetting you.

13 For you to freedom were called, brothers; only not the freedom as basis pMost lit. base of operations, as for an army; by extension, a starting point. for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

14 For the entire law in one word has been fulfilled, by “You shall love the neighbor of you as yourself.”

15 And if one another you are biting and devouring, see you q Or look out, beware. not by one another you are rThe tense here is aorist, which generally but not neccesarily implies a past event. This is such a case; the aorist is used to indicate a single act of destruction, resulting from a hypothetical continuing course of argument and ill will. destroyed sOr consumed, which continues the biting and eating metaphor. Destroyed is the primary meaning, but by knowing both terms one also gets the idea that they are spending so much time arguing that they do not have time for godly tasks, and that the bitter feelings from their arguments devour their goodness..

16 So I say, in spirit walk and lusts of flesh not not t Idiom w/ subjuntive, in no way. fulfill uThe sentence is generally treated as an implicit conditional, “walk in spirit you will not satisfy desires of flesh,” but the grammatical basis for this is near-nonexistent. “In no way fulfill” is a negative subjunctive and better read as a second imperative..

17 For the flesh desires contrary to the spirit, and the spirit contrary to the flesh, for these to one another are opposed, that not what if vIdiom, whatever. you might want these you might do.

18 But if by spirit you are led, not are you under law.

19 Now, evident is the works of the flesh, which wGreek has a peculiar relative pronoun that infers a class, used here, so the literal form which is might be best translated including. is fornication, uncleanness xOr impurity; the word used is a Semitic equivalent, i.e. the Jewish term for “unclean” in the legal sense., indecent conduct,

20 idolatry, making potions yOr sorcery. The literal word, close to “pharmaceutics”, might be cleverly used to mention drug addiction or dealing, although that is not what is meant. , hostilities, rivalry zOr strife., jealousy, angry outbursts, selfish ambition, factionalism, dogma,

21 envyings aaMany sources differentiate this word, translated “envy” or “coveting”, from the word in v. 20 translated “jealousy”, in that it includes or requires taking something away from someone else, rather than simply wanting to have a similar item, status, etc. Jealousy is more associated with pride., drunkeness, carousing, and similar things, which I forewarn bbExt. of the more literal foretell. to you just as I forewarned that those the such things practicing kingdom of god not will inherit.

22 But the fruit of the spirit is love, gladness, peace, patient endurance ccUsually translated patience, but the term includes forebearance under more serious provocation. We think of patience as not being irritated over delay, but Paul means to include holding our temper when intentionally provoked or attacked., kindness, goodness, faith,

23 meekness ddOr gentleness., self-control; contrary to such not is law.

24 But those of Christ Jesus the flesh crucified with the passions and the desires.

25 If we live by spirit, to spirit also we align.

26 Not must we become vainglorious eeOddly enough, the compound Greek word is composed of the words “vain” and “glorious”. Although it is generally translated “boastful” (or even “conceited”, which seems a poor choice), the literal translation “vainglorious” (meaning boastfully vain) is far superior., one another provoking, one another envying.