Galatians 5

 

1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free (from death, which formerly had us laboring in our flesh to obtain unto life), stand firm therefore in the liberty (the Father has given you in Christ) and do not become entangled again with (the weight of) this doctrine (that came) from (the) bondage (of death).

 

2 Listen carefully, I Paul, say to you, that if you (are seeking to be justified to life and immortality in the flesh, through the strength of your dying flesh) being circumcised (in your flesh), Christ, (who has circumcised you from that body of death), will profit you nothing.

 

3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised (relying upon the strength of their corruptible flesh, to observe all the deeds of the law), that he is (under a curse) a debtor (in bondage) to do the whole law (which could still never purge his conscience from death).

 

4 You have rendered (the strength of God in) Christ (to freely justify you unto life and immortality by the Spirit) of no effect, whosoever of you are (relying upon your own strength to be) justified (to immortality in the flesh) by (observing) the (deeds of the) law; you are fallen (away) from grace (if you cease from trusting in the strength of God alone to freely justify you unto His life).

 

5 For we (who rely upon the strength of God in Christ to justify us) by the Spirit, eagerly await the (sure) hope of the life (and immortality of God) through the faith (that was revealed in Jesus Christ).

 

6 Because in Christ Jesus neither does (trusting in) being circumcised, or uncircumcised, contain any power (to raise you up to His life and immortality); but (only the hearing of) faith which works (in your heart to persuade you) by His love (to freely justify you by His Spirit unto that life).

 

7 You were running well; who has hindered you that you should not obey the truth (which has been so clearly set before you in Christ and Him crucified)?

 

8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you (from out of the darkness and bondage of death unto the liberty found in fellowship with His dear Son).

 

9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump (as a little corruption, corrupts the whole).

 

10 I have confidence in you, that through the Lord, you will not be of any other mind (than His): but he that troubles you will bear His judgment (concerning what that corrupt persuasion will serve them with), whoever that may be.

 

11 And I, my brothers (in Christ), if I still preach circumcision (as some suggest), why do I still suffer persecution (from my circumcised brethren according to the flesh)? If that were the case, the offense which comes from the cross (of Christ to those who boast in their flesh would have) ceased.

 

12 I wish that those who have upset you would (not only circumcise themselves but) were even (totally) cut off (castrating themselves).

 

13 For you, brethren, have been called unto freedom (delivered from the bondage of death to the glorious liberty of His life); see that you do not (return to bondage and) use your freedom as an occasion to (boast in) the (strength of your corruptible) flesh, but rather (abide) in (the) love (which He has served you with in freeing you from death) serving one another (in that love).

 

14 For the entire law is fulfilled (in Christ) in one word, (love), (abiding in Him) inside of this (love by which He has loved us); You will love (and prefer) your neighbor’s (life) as your own.

 

15 But if you bite and devour one another, (beware) that you are not (completely) consumed by one another.

 

16 This I say then, walk, (resting) in the (sure promise of the) Spirit (to justify you unto life and immortality in your flesh), and you will not fulfill the lust (to bring forth life) from the flesh.

 

17 Because the lusts contained in the flesh (to serve itself with life) are opposed to (the way of) the Spirit of God (to freely serve you with His life), and the Spirit opposed to (the way of) the flesh: and these (two) are contrary, the one to the other (one leading to death and the other to life): so that you cannot (through the lust of the flesh) bring forth the things that your heart (truly) desires.

 

18 But if you are led by the Spirit (of life that is in Christ Jesus, which raised Him up from the dead, to freely serve you with that same life and immortality in your flesh), you, being freed from (the bondage of death) are no longer under the law (where that body of death brought you into captivity, laboring to serve yourself with life through your dying flesh).

 

19 Now the works that are manifest (from trusting in the strength) of the flesh (to father your life) are these; fornication (being intimate with the works of your hands), uncleanness (a mind filled with and defiled by death), lasciviousness (an unrestrained lust for the life you can gather to yourself),

 

20 Idolatry, (rejecting the true God, to worship other gods made with man’s hands which is) witchcraft (born from rebellion), hatred (and hostility), strife (an affection to argue and dispute all things), jealousies, outbursts of anger, contentions (and selfish rivalries), dissensions (which cause division) heresies (separating themselves as chosen or possessing special knowledge),

 

21 Filled with envy, (spite and ill will), excessive intoxication, and riotous living, and things like these: of which I tell you now, beforehand, just as I have also told you in the past, that those who do these things (to father their own lives with the life they can get from the world) will not possess (or experience) the life (of a son) of God, (having set aside His grace, wherein He desires to freely serve them with the same life as His beloved Son by the Spirit).

 

22 But the fruit (that comes from trusting in God to Father your life) from the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

 

23 Meekness, self-control: there is no law (that can bring accusation) against such things (for those who wait, trusting upon the Spirit of God to freely serve them with these things are blameless according to the law).

 

24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh (along) with the affections and lusts (of its members, resting in the sure hope of His life and immortality in the flesh, revealed in the faith of Jesus Christ).

 

25 If (the life) we live (in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God, to serve us with His life) by the Spirit, let us also walk by the (same) Spirit (so that His life would be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit).

 

26 Let us not become boastful (in the strength we can obtain to) in our flesh (which glorying is void of any power to inherit His life), (but that which only) provokes us to challenge one another, (causing us to) envy (where we bite and devour) one another.