Outline
- Denunciation (1:6-10)
- The Galatians' Experience of
the Gospel (3:1-5)
- The Experience of Abraham (3:6-9)
- The Curse of the Law (3:10-14)
- The Priority of the Promise (3:15-18)
- The Purpose of the Law (3:19-25)
- Sons, Not Slaves (3:26;4:7)
- The Danger of Turning Back (4:8-11)
- Appeal to Embrace the Freedom
of God's Children (4:12-20)
- God's Children Are Children of
the Free Woman (4:21-31)
V.
Conclusion and
Benediction (6:11-18)
Galatians 5 NLT
1 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.
2Listen! 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.
3 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.
4 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.
5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly
wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us.
6 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.
7 You were running the race so well.
Who has held you back from following the truth?
8 It certainly isn’t God, for he is the
one who called you to freedom.
9 This false teaching is like a little
yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough!
10 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.
11 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.
12 I just wish that those troublemakers
who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves.
13 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.
14 For the whole law can be summed up in
this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you are always biting and
devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.
16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your
lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.
17 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.
18 But when you are directed by the
Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
19 When you follow the desires of your
sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful
pleasures,
20idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling,
jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,
21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and
other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone
living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this
kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness,
23 gentleness, and self-control. There
is no law against these things!
24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have
nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and
crucified them there.
25 Since we are living by the Spirit,
let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
26 Let us not become
conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.
Galatians 6 NLT
1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another
believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly
help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the
same temptation yourself.
2 Share each other’s burdens, and in
this way obey the law of Christ.
3 If you think you are too important to
help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.
4 Pay careful attention to your own
work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t
need to compare yourself to anyone else.
5 For we are each responsible for our
own conduct.
6 Those who are taught the word of God
should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.
7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the
justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.
8Those who live only to satisfy their own
sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those
who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the
Spirit.
9 So let’s not get tired of doing what
is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t
give up.
10 Therefore, whenever we have the
opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of
faith.
11 NOTICE WHAT LARGE LETTERS I USE AS I
WRITE THESE CLOSING WORDS IN MY OWN HANDWRITING.
12 Those who are trying to force you to
be circumcised want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted
for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save.
13 And even those who advocate
circumcision don’t keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be
circumcised so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples.
14 As for me, may I never boast about
anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my
interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has
also died.
15 It doesn’t matter whether we have
been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a
new creation.
16 May God’s peace and mercy be upon all
who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.
17 From now on, don’t let anyone trouble
me with these things. For I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to
Jesus.
18 Dear brothers and
sisters, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
