New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Galatians 5
1
Christ has set us free. He wants us to enjoy freedom. So stand firm. Don't let the chains of slavery hold you again.
Reference
Creation
Romans 8:2
Parallel theme
2 Corinthians 3:17
Galatians 5:13
1 Peter 2:16
Romans 6:14
Galatians 4:9
Hebrews 10:23
Galatians 4:31
Revelation 3:3
References Christ
Galatians 2:4
2
Here is what I, Paul, say to you. Don't let yourselves be circumcised. If you do, Christ won't be of any value to you.
Reference
3
I say it again. Every man who lets himself be circumcised must obey the whole law.
Reference
Parallel theme
Matthew 23:18
Witness
Ephesians 4:17
Deuteronomy 8:19
Deuteronomy 31:21
Word
Galatians 3:10
Romans 2:25
Deuteronomy 27:26
4
Some of you are trying to be made right with God by obeying the law. You have been separated from Christ. You have fallen away from God's grace.
Reference
Grace
Romans 11:6
Galatians 2:21
Hebrews 12:15
Parallel theme
Revelation 2:5
References Christ
Galatians 5:2
Righteousness
Romans 3:20
5
But we expect to be made completely holy because of our faith in Christ. Through the Holy Spirit we wait in hope.
Reference
Faith
Philippians 3:9
Hope
Psalm 130:5
Titus 2:13
Parallel theme
1 Thessalonians 1:10
Psalm 62:5
Genesis 49:18
Psalm 25:5
Hosea 12:6
Righteousness
2 Timothy 4:8
Romans 5:21
6
Circumcision and uncircumcision aren't worth anything to those who believe in Christ Jesus. The only thing that really counts is faith that shows itself through love.
Reference
Faith
1 Thessalonians 1:3
1 Peter 1:8
Love
2 Corinthians 5:14
Parallel theme
1 Corinthians 7:19
References Jesus
Galatians 6:15
Galatians 3:28
8
The One who chooses you does not keep you from obeying the truth.
Reference
Parallel theme
Galatians 1:6
9
You should know that "just a little yeast works its way through the whole batch of dough."
Reference
10
The Lord makes me certain that you will not think in any other way. The one who has gotten you all mixed up will pay the price. It doesn't matter who that may be.
Reference
Parallel theme
Galatians 5:12
2 Corinthians 2:3
Galatians 1:7
Philippians 3:15
Acts 15:24
1 Timothy 1:20
2 Corinthians 10:6
Galatians 2:6
Galatians 2:4
References Lord
1 Corinthians 5:5
11
Brothers and sisters, I am not still preaching that people must be circumcised. If I were, why am I still being opposed? If that were what I preach, then the cross wouldn't upset anyone.
Reference
Cross
1 Corinthians 1:23
Galatians 6:12
Parallel theme
Galatians 4:29
Acts 21:21
1 Corinthians 15:30
Galatians 2:3
12
So then, what about troublemakers who try to get others to be circumcised? I wish they would go the whole way! I wish they would cut off everything that marks them as men!
Reference
13
My brothers and sisters, you were chosen to be free. But don't use your freedom as an excuse to live in sin. Instead, serve one another in love.
Reference
14
The whole law can be found in a single command. "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."--(Leviticus 19:18)
Reference
15
You must not keep on biting each other. You must not keep eating each other up. Watch out! You might destroy each other.
Reference
16
So I say, live by the Holy Spirit's power. Then you will not do what your sinful nature wants you to do.
Reference
17
The sinful nature does not want what the Spirit delights in. And the Spirit does not want what the sinful nature delights in. The two are at war with each other. That's what makes you do what you don't want to do.
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 119:20
Ecclesiastes 7:20
Psalm 119:32
James 3:2
Matthew 16:23
Luke 22:46
Matthew 12:30
Spirit
Romans 8:13
John 3:6
Matthew 26:41
18
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the authority of the law.
Reference
Parallel theme
Proverbs 8:20
Spirit
Romans 8:14
Galatians 5:25
Ezekiel 36:27
John 16:13
Galatians 5:16
Word
Romans 7:4
19
What the sinful nature does is clear. It enjoys sexual sins, impure acts and wild living.
Reference
20
It worships statues of gods. It also worships evil powers. It is full of hatred and fighting. It is full of jealousy and fits of anger. It is interested only in getting ahead. It stirs up trouble. It separates people into their own little groups.
Reference
21
It wants what others have. It gets drunk and takes part in wild parties. It does many things of that kind. I warn you now as I did before. People who live like that will not receive God's kingdom.
Reference
Kingdom
1 Corinthians 15:50
Parallel theme
Romans 13:13
Romans 8:13
Ephesians 5:18
1 Corinthians 5:11
1 Peter 4:3
Revelation 21:27
1 Thessalonians 5:7
Revelation 22:15
References God
Colossians 3:6
22
But the fruit the Holy Spirit produces is love, joy and peace. It is being patient, kind and good. It is being faithful
Reference
Faith
1 Corinthians 13:13
Good
Matthew 12:33
Love
1 Peter 1:22
Parallel theme
John 15:5
John 15:2
Psalm 1:3
John 15:16
Romans 7:4
Philippians 1:11
Spirit
Ephesians 5:9
24
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed their sinful nature to his cross. They don't want what their sinful nature loves and longs for.
Reference
Cross
Romans 6:6
Galatians 6:14
Parallel theme
Romans 8:13
1 Peter 2:11
References Christ
Romans 13:14
Romans 8:9
1 Corinthians 3:23
2 Corinthians 10:7
1 Corinthians 15:23
Galatians 3:29
Summary of Galatians 5
Galatians 5 declares that Christ has freed believers from dependence upon the law as a means of righteousness, while explaining that genuine Christian freedom is not permission for selfish behavior but the opportunity to live through the Holy Spirit, serve others through love, and produce a transformed character that reflects God's presence.
Paul begins by firmly telling the Galatians to stand in the freedom Christ has given them rather than allowing themselves to become enslaved again to religious requirements, particularly circumcision as a condition for being accepted by God.
He warns that if they choose circumcision as the foundation of their righteousness, they are effectively choosing dependence upon the entire law rather than trusting completely in Christ, because accepting the law as the basis of justification requires accepting its complete demands.
Paul therefore contrasts law-based righteousness with faith-based righteousness, explaining that believers wait through the Spirit and faith for the hope of righteousness rather than attempting to establish their standing before God through religious performance.
He emphasizes that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has saving power because what truly matters is faith working through love, meaning that genuine faith expresses itself through a life shaped by loving relationships and obedience to God.
Paul then warns that false teaching spreads through a church like yeast through dough, showing that apparently small compromises can eventually influence an entire community and weaken its understanding of the gospel.
Although Paul strongly defends Christian freedom, he immediately clarifies that freedom must never become an excuse for selfish behavior, because believers are called to serve one another through love, and the entire moral purpose of the law can be summarized in the command to love one's neighbor as oneself.
Paul then warns the Galatians that continual fighting, criticism, jealousy, and hostility can destroy the church from within, showing that legalism and division can become just as destructive as the sinful behavior that believers are called to reject.
The second half of the chapter explains how believers should actually live in this freedom, with Paul commanding them to walk in the Spirit rather than allowing the desires of the flesh to control their lives.
He contrasts the works of the flesh, including sexual immorality, idolatry, hatred, jealousy, anger, selfish ambition, divisions, envy, drunkenness, and similar behaviors, with the fruit of the Spirit, which consists of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Paul concludes that those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, meaning that believers have decisively turned away from their former way of life and should now allow the Holy Spirit to guide their daily conduct.
The chapter ends by warning Christians against pride, competition, and jealousy, showing that spiritual freedom should produce humility, unity, love, and Spirit-directed relationships rather than another form of selfishness.
The central message of Galatians 5 is that Christ gives believers freedom from dependence upon religious law for righteousness, but this freedom is meant to produce a Spirit-led life characterized by love, self-control, humility, and genuine transformation rather than selfish behavior.
Paul begins the chapter with one of the strongest themes in Galatians: stand firmly in freedom.
The freedom Paul describes is not freedom from God.
It is freedom from depending upon religious law as the basis for becoming righteous before God.
The Galatians were being pressured to accept circumcision.
Paul sees this as much more than a physical procedure.
The real issue is what they believe makes them acceptable to God.
If they believe circumcision is necessary for justification, they are placing themselves under the entire law.
Paul therefore tells them that they cannot depend partly on Christ and partly on the law as competing foundations for righteousness.
The Christian life begins with faith in Christ and continues through faith in Christ.
Paul then explains that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has spiritual value by itself.
What matters is faith working through love.
This statement provides an important balance to Paul's teaching about freedom.
Christian freedom is not passive independence.
It produces active love.
A believer who trusts Christ should increasingly become someone who loves God and serves other people.
Paul therefore connects freedom with the command to love your neighbor as yourself.
This command comes from Leviticus and was already part of Israel's Scriptures.
Paul's point is that Christian freedom does not destroy God's moral purposes.
Instead, the Spirit enables believers to live according to those purposes from the inside rather than merely attempting to satisfy external regulations.
Paul then warns about the danger of false teaching.
He compares it to yeast spreading through dough.
A small amount can eventually influence the whole mixture.
In the same way, a seemingly small distortion of the gospel can eventually reshape the beliefs and behavior of an entire church.
Paul therefore takes the Galatian situation extremely seriously.
He does not want the church to lose the freedom Christ has provided.
The chapter then moves from the question of freedom to the question of how Christians should use freedom.
Paul knows that some people could misunderstand his teaching.
If believers are free from the law, they might assume that they can simply follow every desire they experience.
Paul rejects this completely.
Freedom is not permission for selfishness.
Instead, freedom creates an opportunity to serve others through love.
Paul then introduces the contrast between the flesh and the Spirit.
The flesh represents human desires and tendencies that are opposed to God's purposes.
The Spirit represents the life directed and transformed by God's presence.
These two directions conflict with each other.
Believers therefore experience a real struggle between old desires and their new identity in Christ.
Paul's answer is not simply to create another list of external rules.
His answer is to walk in the Spirit.
This means allowing the Holy Spirit to shape daily decisions, attitudes, relationships, priorities, and behavior.
Paul then lists the works of the flesh.
The list includes sexual immorality and impurity, but it also includes attitudes such as jealousy, anger, selfish ambition, hatred, division, and envy.
This is important because Paul does not define sinful living only through obvious outward actions.
A person can participate in destructive behavior through attitudes and relationships as well.
The list also includes idolatry, sorcery, drunkenness, uncontrolled celebrations, and other behaviors associated with life apart from God's authority.
Paul warns that those who continually practice these behaviors as a pattern of life are not demonstrating the character of people who belong to God's kingdom.
He then provides the positive alternative.
Instead of listing rules that believers must mechanically follow, Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit.
The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
These qualities describe the character that develops when a person's life is increasingly directed by God.
The image of "fruit" is especially meaningful because fruit grows from a living source.
Christian character is therefore not merely manufactured through external effort.
It develops as believers live in relationship with God and allow the Spirit to transform them.
Paul then explains that there is no law against such qualities.
In other words, the Spirit's work does not produce behavior that contradicts God's moral purposes.
Instead, the Spirit produces the kind of character that fulfills the deeper purpose behind God's commands.
Paul concludes by returning to the cross.
Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
This describes a decisive change in allegiance.
The believer is no longer supposed to live as though selfish desires are the highest authority.
The old way of life has been rejected because the believer now belongs to Christ.
Paul therefore says that if believers live through the Spirit, they must also walk according to the Spirit.
Their daily behavior should match the new life they have received.
The final warning concerns pride and competition.
Paul tells believers not to become proud, provoke one another, or become jealous of one another.
This is especially relevant because the Galatian conflict itself involved religious status and identity.
Paul's solution is not another system of religious competition.
His solution is freedom expressed through love and Spirit-produced character.
Overall, Galatians 5 teaches that Christ frees believers from trying to earn righteousness through religious law, but Christian freedom must never become an excuse for selfishness, because true freedom expresses itself through love, service, spiritual transformation, self-control, humility, and a daily life guided by the Holy Spirit.
Paul begins by firmly telling the Galatians to stand in the freedom Christ has given them rather than allowing themselves to become enslaved again to religious requirements, particularly circumcision as a condition for being accepted by God.
He warns that if they choose circumcision as the foundation of their righteousness, they are effectively choosing dependence upon the entire law rather than trusting completely in Christ, because accepting the law as the basis of justification requires accepting its complete demands.
Paul therefore contrasts law-based righteousness with faith-based righteousness, explaining that believers wait through the Spirit and faith for the hope of righteousness rather than attempting to establish their standing before God through religious performance.
He emphasizes that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has saving power because what truly matters is faith working through love, meaning that genuine faith expresses itself through a life shaped by loving relationships and obedience to God.
Paul then warns that false teaching spreads through a church like yeast through dough, showing that apparently small compromises can eventually influence an entire community and weaken its understanding of the gospel.
Although Paul strongly defends Christian freedom, he immediately clarifies that freedom must never become an excuse for selfish behavior, because believers are called to serve one another through love, and the entire moral purpose of the law can be summarized in the command to love one's neighbor as oneself.
Paul then warns the Galatians that continual fighting, criticism, jealousy, and hostility can destroy the church from within, showing that legalism and division can become just as destructive as the sinful behavior that believers are called to reject.
The second half of the chapter explains how believers should actually live in this freedom, with Paul commanding them to walk in the Spirit rather than allowing the desires of the flesh to control their lives.
He contrasts the works of the flesh, including sexual immorality, idolatry, hatred, jealousy, anger, selfish ambition, divisions, envy, drunkenness, and similar behaviors, with the fruit of the Spirit, which consists of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Paul concludes that those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, meaning that believers have decisively turned away from their former way of life and should now allow the Holy Spirit to guide their daily conduct.
The chapter ends by warning Christians against pride, competition, and jealousy, showing that spiritual freedom should produce humility, unity, love, and Spirit-directed relationships rather than another form of selfishness.
The central message of Galatians 5 is that Christ gives believers freedom from dependence upon religious law for righteousness, but this freedom is meant to produce a Spirit-led life characterized by love, self-control, humility, and genuine transformation rather than selfish behavior.
Paul begins the chapter with one of the strongest themes in Galatians: stand firmly in freedom.
The freedom Paul describes is not freedom from God.
It is freedom from depending upon religious law as the basis for becoming righteous before God.
The Galatians were being pressured to accept circumcision.
Paul sees this as much more than a physical procedure.
The real issue is what they believe makes them acceptable to God.
If they believe circumcision is necessary for justification, they are placing themselves under the entire law.
Paul therefore tells them that they cannot depend partly on Christ and partly on the law as competing foundations for righteousness.
The Christian life begins with faith in Christ and continues through faith in Christ.
Paul then explains that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has spiritual value by itself.
What matters is faith working through love.
This statement provides an important balance to Paul's teaching about freedom.
Christian freedom is not passive independence.
It produces active love.
A believer who trusts Christ should increasingly become someone who loves God and serves other people.
Paul therefore connects freedom with the command to love your neighbor as yourself.
This command comes from Leviticus and was already part of Israel's Scriptures.
Paul's point is that Christian freedom does not destroy God's moral purposes.
Instead, the Spirit enables believers to live according to those purposes from the inside rather than merely attempting to satisfy external regulations.
Paul then warns about the danger of false teaching.
He compares it to yeast spreading through dough.
A small amount can eventually influence the whole mixture.
In the same way, a seemingly small distortion of the gospel can eventually reshape the beliefs and behavior of an entire church.
Paul therefore takes the Galatian situation extremely seriously.
He does not want the church to lose the freedom Christ has provided.
The chapter then moves from the question of freedom to the question of how Christians should use freedom.
Paul knows that some people could misunderstand his teaching.
If believers are free from the law, they might assume that they can simply follow every desire they experience.
Paul rejects this completely.
Freedom is not permission for selfishness.
Instead, freedom creates an opportunity to serve others through love.
Paul then introduces the contrast between the flesh and the Spirit.
The flesh represents human desires and tendencies that are opposed to God's purposes.
The Spirit represents the life directed and transformed by God's presence.
These two directions conflict with each other.
Believers therefore experience a real struggle between old desires and their new identity in Christ.
Paul's answer is not simply to create another list of external rules.
His answer is to walk in the Spirit.
This means allowing the Holy Spirit to shape daily decisions, attitudes, relationships, priorities, and behavior.
Paul then lists the works of the flesh.
The list includes sexual immorality and impurity, but it also includes attitudes such as jealousy, anger, selfish ambition, hatred, division, and envy.
This is important because Paul does not define sinful living only through obvious outward actions.
A person can participate in destructive behavior through attitudes and relationships as well.
The list also includes idolatry, sorcery, drunkenness, uncontrolled celebrations, and other behaviors associated with life apart from God's authority.
Paul warns that those who continually practice these behaviors as a pattern of life are not demonstrating the character of people who belong to God's kingdom.
He then provides the positive alternative.
Instead of listing rules that believers must mechanically follow, Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit.
The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
These qualities describe the character that develops when a person's life is increasingly directed by God.
The image of "fruit" is especially meaningful because fruit grows from a living source.
Christian character is therefore not merely manufactured through external effort.
It develops as believers live in relationship with God and allow the Spirit to transform them.
Paul then explains that there is no law against such qualities.
In other words, the Spirit's work does not produce behavior that contradicts God's moral purposes.
Instead, the Spirit produces the kind of character that fulfills the deeper purpose behind God's commands.
Paul concludes by returning to the cross.
Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
This describes a decisive change in allegiance.
The believer is no longer supposed to live as though selfish desires are the highest authority.
The old way of life has been rejected because the believer now belongs to Christ.
Paul therefore says that if believers live through the Spirit, they must also walk according to the Spirit.
Their daily behavior should match the new life they have received.
The final warning concerns pride and competition.
Paul tells believers not to become proud, provoke one another, or become jealous of one another.
This is especially relevant because the Galatian conflict itself involved religious status and identity.
Paul's solution is not another system of religious competition.
His solution is freedom expressed through love and Spirit-produced character.
Overall, Galatians 5 teaches that Christ frees believers from trying to earn righteousness through religious law, but Christian freedom must never become an excuse for selfishness, because true freedom expresses itself through love, service, spiritual transformation, self-control, humility, and a daily life guided by the Holy Spirit.