GalatiansChapter 5
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1Christ has set us free so that we can be free. So stand firm. Do not let yourselves be weighed down again by a yoke of slavery. 2Listen! I, Paul, am telling you this. If you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no help to you at all. 3I say it again to every man who gets circumcised. He must then obey the whole law. 4Some of you are trying to be made right with God by the law. You have been cut off from Christ. You have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we wait eagerly, through the Spirit, for the hope of being right with God. 6In Christ Jesus it does not matter if you are circumcised or not. What matters is faith that shows itself through love. 7You were running the race so well. Who got in your way and kept you from obeying the truth? 8That kind of talk does not come from the One who calls you. 9Just a little yeast spreads through the whole batch of dough. 10I trust in the Lord that you will not think any other way. The one who is troubling you will be judged, whoever he is. 11Brothers and sisters, suppose I am still preaching that people must be circumcised. Then why am I still being attacked? If I were, the cross would no longer offend anyone. 12As for those people who are upsetting you, I wish they would go all the way and cut off their own private parts! 13Brothers and sisters, you were called to be free. But do not use your freedom as a chance to obey your sinful nature. Instead, serve one another in love. 14The whole law is summed up in one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 15But if you keep biting and tearing at each other, watch out! Or you will be destroyed by one another. 16So I tell you, live by the Spirit. Then you will not do what your sinful nature wants. 17The sinful nature wants what goes against the Spirit. And the Spirit wants what goes against the sinful nature. They fight against each other. So you do not do what you want to do. 18But if the Spirit leads you, you are not under the law. 19The things the sinful nature does are easy to see. They are sexual sin, impure living, and wild living. 20They are worshiping idols and witchcraft. They are hate, fighting, jealousy, and fits of anger. They are selfish rivalry, splitting into sides, and forming groups. 21They are envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and things like these. I warn you now, as I did before. People who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like these. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed their sinful nature to the cross, along with its strong feelings and desires. 25We live by the Spirit, so let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not be proud. Let us not stir each other up or be jealous of each other.