Add parallel Print Page Options

Christ has made us really free. So, stay free! Do not let yourselves be made slaves again.

I, Paul, say to you again that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ is no help to you at all.

Again I say to every man who is circumcised, he must obey all the law.

Some of you are trying to obey the law, so that God will call you good. If you do this, you have been cut off from Christ. You have lost the blessing of God.

But we hope to be made right by believing in Christ. The Spirit helps us to do this.

So if a man belongs to Christ Jesus, it does not matter if he is circumcised or not. He must show by his love that he believes.

You were doing well. Who stopped you from doing what is right?

God calls you but he is not the one who made you change your minds.

Even a little yeast makes all the bread rise.

10 The Lord makes me sure that you will not think any other way. But the teacher who is troubling your minds will be punished. It does not matter who he is.

11 My brothers, am I still telling people to be circumcised? If I am, why are people still troubling me? If it were true, the cross of Christ, which they do not like, has lost its power.

12 These teachers are troubling your minds. How I wish they would cut themselves off!

13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not take that to mean that you can do as you please. But work for each other because you love each other.

14 This one law is the whole law: `Love your neighbour as you love yourself.'

15 But if you bite and chew each other, be careful, or you will be killed by each other.

16 So I say, let the Spirit tell you what you should do. Then you will not do the wrong things you yourselves want to do.

17 People want to do wrong things that the Spirit does not want them to do. And the Spirit wants people to do things they do not want to do. The Spirit and the wrong things you want to do are against each other, so that you do not do what you yourself want to do.

18 If you do what the Spirit wants you to do, then you will be free from the law.

19 It is easy to see the wrong things people want to do. Both married people and those who are not married commit adultery. People make themselves unclean because of their wrong use of sex. They do things they should be ashamed of doing.

20 They worship idols. They use witch-power. They hate. They quarrel. They are jealous. They get angry. They want their own way. They do not agree together and they join different groups against each other.

21 They want what other people have. They even kill. They drink too much strong drink. They like to take part in loud drinking and dancing. They do other things like these. I have told you before and I tell you again. Those who do these things will not be in the kingdom of God. 22,

22 But these are the things which the Spirit wants you to show: love, joy, peace, patience, being kind, being good, being true, being gentle, and keeping the body under control. There is no law that says, `These things are wrong.'

23 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have stopped doing the wrong things they want to do. They have stopped them just as if they were killed on a cross. And they have even stopped wanting to do them.

24 The Spirit gives us life. And so we should do what the Spirit wants us to do.

25 We must not be proud of ourselves. We must not make one another angry. We must not want what other people have.

Freedom in Christ

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.(A) Stand firm,(B) then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.(C)

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised,(D) Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.(E) You who are trying to be justified by the law(F) have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.(G) For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.(H) For in Christ Jesus(I) neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.(J) The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.(K)

You were running a good race.(L) Who cut in on you(M) to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.(N) “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”(O) 10 I am confident(P) in the Lord that you will take no other view.(Q) The one who is throwing you into confusion,(R) whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. 11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?(S) In that case the offense(T) of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators,(U) I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

Life by the Spirit

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.(V) But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a];(W) rather, serve one another(X) humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b](Y) 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit,(Z) and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.(AA) 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.(AB) They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c] you want.(AC) 18 But if you are led by the Spirit,(AD) you are not under the law.(AE)

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality,(AF) impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.(AG) I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.(AH)

22 But the fruit(AI) of the Spirit is love,(AJ) joy, peace,(AK) forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.(AL) Against such things there is no law.(AM) 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh(AN) with its passions and desires.(AO) 25 Since we live by the Spirit,(AP) let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited,(AQ) provoking and envying each other.

Footnotes

  1. Galatians 5:13 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 16, 17, 19 and 24; and in 6:8.
  2. Galatians 5:14 Lev. 19:18
  3. Galatians 5:17 Or you do not do what