Galatians 5
5
Christ Sets Us Free
1Christ has set us free so that we can be free. So stand firm, and don’t let anyone make you a slave again.
2Listen! I, Paul, tell you myself that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ won’t be of any value to you. 3I’ll say it again: Every man who lets himself be circumcised must obey the entire law. 4Some of you are trying to be made right with God by obeying the law. As a result, you’ve been separated from Christ and you’ve fallen away from God’s grace. 5But we, through the Spirit, are eagerly waiting to be made completely right with God by faith. 6If a person believes in Christ Jesus, it doesn’t matter whether they’re circumcised or not. The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love.
7You were running a good race. Who got in your way and kept you from obeying the truth? 8Their influence isn’t coming from the God who first called you. 9Remember that “a little yeast works its way through the whole batch of dough.” 10I’m confident in the Lord that you won’t see this any other way. The people who are getting you so confused will be punished for that, no matter who they are. 11Brothers and sisters, if I’m preaching that people have to be circumcised, then why am I getting so much resistance? If I were preaching that, then no one would be offended that they had to trust only in what Jesus did for them on the cross. 12As for these troublemakers who are trying to get everybody else circumcised, I wish they’d go the whole way and cut everything off themselves!
Living by the Holy Spirit’s Power
13My brothers and sisters, you were called to be free. But don’t use your freedom as an excuse to live under the power of sin. Instead, serve one another humbly in love. 14You can obey the entire law by following this one command: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” 15But if you say or do things that harm one another, watch out! You could end up destroying one another.
16So I say, be guided by the Spirit, and you won’t do what your wrong desires want. 17Those desires don’t want what the Spirit wants, and the Spirit doesn’t want what they want. The two are at war with each other, and that’s why you’re not supposed to do whatever you want. 18But if you’re guided by the Spirit, then you’re not under the authority of the law.
19It’s clear what happens when people follow their wrong desires. There are sexual sins, impure acts, and wild living; 20idol-worship and witchcraft; hatred, fighting, jealousy, fits of anger, selfish ambition, arguments, cliques, 21and envy; drunkenness, wild parties, and many other things like that. I warn you now, as I did before, that people who live like this won’t inherit God’s kingdom.
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There’s no law against things like that. 24People who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed their wrong desires to his cross. They don’t want to follow them anymore. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let’s keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let’s not become proud or make each other angry or want what belongs to someone else.
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