Galatians 5

Christ Has Set Us Free

¹For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

²Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.³I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.⁴You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.⁵For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

⁷You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?⁸This persuasion is not from him who calls you.⁹A little leaven leavens the whole lump.¹⁰I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.¹¹But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.¹²I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

¹³For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.¹⁴For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”¹⁵But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Keep in Step with the Spirit

¹⁶But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.¹⁷For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,²¹envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,²³gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.