Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 185
5:1-21
G alatia n s
173
So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and
don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make
you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. I’ll say it again.
If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must
obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to
make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off
from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.
But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Christ
Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised.
What is important is faith expressing itself in love.
You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to
freedom. This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the
whole batch of dough! I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing
false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been
confusing you.
Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised—as some say I do—why am I still being persecuted? If I were
no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would
be offended. I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate
you by circumcision would mutilate themselves.
For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But
don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in
this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you are always
biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one
another.
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing
what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which
is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires
that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are
constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good
intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under
obligation to the law of Moses.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very
clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension,
division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me
