Galatians 5

1Freedom was Christ’s purpose when he set us free. So stand firm, and do not let yourselves be held again under a yoke of slavery.

2Listen! I, Paul, am telling you: if you have yourselves circumcised, Christ will do you no good at all. 3I insist once more to every man who has himself circumcised: he puts himself under obligation to carry out the entire law. 4Any of you who look to the law to justify you have been cut off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But we, by the Spirit and on the ground of faith, are eagerly waiting for the righteousness we hope for. 6For in Christ Jesus, being circumcised or uncircumcised counts for nothing. What counts is faith at work through love.

7You had been running a good race. Who got in your way and turned you from obeying the truth? 8That persuasion did not come from the one who calls you. 9A little yeast spreads through all the dough. 10In the Lord I am confident that you will not think otherwise. But the one who is unsettling you will bear God’s judgment, whoever that may be. 11As for me, brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the cross would have stopped being a stumbling block. 12As for those who are stirring you up, I wish they would go the whole way and castrate themselves!

13You were called to be free, brothers and sisters. Only do not let your freedom become an opening for the flesh. Instead, through love, be slaves to one another. 14The whole law comes to its fullness in one sentence: “You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.” 15But if you keep biting one another and tearing each other apart, be careful, or you will end up destroying one another.

16This is what I mean: walk by the Spirit, and you will never carry out what the flesh desires. 17For the flesh sets its desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. They are at war with each other, so that you are not free to do whatever you please. 18But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not under the law. 19The works of the flesh are plain to see: sexual immorality, impurity, indecency, 20idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish rivalry, divisions, factions, 21envy, drunken bouts, wild partying, and other things like these. I am telling you now, as I told you before: people who live this way will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22But the fruit the Spirit produces is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. No law stands against things like these. 24Those who belong to Christ have nailed the flesh to the cross, together with its passions and desires. 25Since our life comes from the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit’s lead in each step we take. 26We must not become people hungry for empty praise, who challenge one another and envy one another.