Galatians 5
(1) Exercise Your Freedom
The Chosen One freed us so we could have freedom—so keep standing firm, and don’t get tangled up in a harness of slavery again.
(2) Righteousness Comes from Trusting Jesus’s Spirit to Change Us—Not by Following the Law
Look. I, Paul, tell you this:
If you follow the Jewish custom and get circumcised, the Chosen One won’t help you at all.
If you embrace the Jewish custom of circumcision, I just want to testify again that you are obligated to carry out every single one of the Jewish laws. If you want to use the law to align yourselves with God, you’ll be disconnected from the Chosen One and fall outside of God’s favor.
By trusting Jesus, we expectantly wait for God’s Spirit to bring us into alignment with Him. In Jesus, it doesn’t matter if you embrace the Jewish custom of circumcision or not—the only thing that matters is trusting Jesus in a way that produces love.
(7) Your False Belief Didn’t come from God
You were progressing just fine—who prevented you from embracing the truth? I know that the one who persuaded you that way wasn’t the One who calls you. It only takes a little bit of yeast to permeate the whole batch of dough.
I’m confident about you in the Commander (Jesus) that you won’t subscribe to any other beliefs. But whoever is messing you up will be put on trial and will receive their rightful sentence.
But think about this, my spiritual siblings: if I still advocate the Jewish custom of circumcision, then why are people treating me so poorly? If righteousness could be achieved by following the law, then the scandal of the cross would be rendered invalid. I wish that whoever is messing you up would cut off their own selves!
(13) Your Freedom Should Foster Love
You were invited to be free, my spiritual siblings! Just don’t turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh. Keep serving each other out of love. After all, the entire Jewish law is carried out in this one notion:
“Love the people around you in the same way that you love yourself.”
—Jesus in Matthew 7:12
But if you snap at each other and destroy each other, watch out, because someone else might come along and finish you off.
(16) Flesh & Spirit Oppose Each Other
I suggest you operate according to the Spirit so you don’t do what the flesh wants. The flesh yearns against the Spirit, and the Spirit yearns against the flesh. The two forces are in opposition to each other, preventing us from doing what we want. But if you’re led by the Spirit, you aren’t under the law.
The flesh’s endeavors are:
sexual misconduct
impurity
eroticism
prioritizing other things above God
doing drugs
being unpleasant
having disagreements
harboring jealousy
angry outbursts
selfish ambition
disputes
divisions
wanting what others have
getting drunk
drinking parties
and other things like that
I have to warn you (like I already warned you) that whoever engages in those kinds of things won’t inherit God’s empire.
But the Spirit produces the byproducts of:
selflessness
happiness
peace
the ability to endure trouble without getting mad
having a kind heart
good character
trustworthiness
tenderness
self-control
There aren’t any laws prohibiting those kinds of things.
Whoever belongs to the Chosen One (Jesus) has killed the flesh, its passions, and its desires by nailing them to a cross.
(25) Let’s Operate in the Spirit
If the Spirit is the one that gives us life, then let’s operate in alignment with Spirit. Let’s try not to think too highly of ourselves, annoy each other, or want things that belong to other people.