Galatia 5:1-6

Freedom of the Believer

5:1 For freedom ¹  Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke ²  of slavery. 5:2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all! 5:3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey ³  the whole law. 5:4 You who are trying to be declared righteous ⁴  by the law have been alienated ⁵  from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness. 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith working through love. ⁶ 

Galatia 5:16-21

5:16 But I say, live ⁷  by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. ⁸  5:17 For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires ⁹  that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to ¹⁰  each other, so that you cannot do what you want. 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 5:19 Now the works of the flesh ¹¹  are obvious: ¹²  sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, 5:20 idolatry, sorcery, ¹³  hostilities, ¹⁴  strife, ¹⁵  jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, ¹⁶  factions, 5:21 envying, ¹⁷  murder, ¹⁸  drunkenness, carousing, ¹⁹  and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!

[5:1]  ¹ tn Translating the dative as “For freedom” shows the purpose for Christ setting us free; however, it is also possible to take the phrase in the sense of means or instrument (“with [or by] freedom”), referring to the freedom mentioned in 4:31 and implied throughout the letter.

[5:1]  ² sn Here the yoke figuratively represents the burdensome nature of slavery.

[5:3]  ³ tn Or “keep”; or “carry out”; Grk “do.”

[5:4]  ⁴ tn Or “trying to be justified.” The verb δικαιοῦσθε (dikaiousqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534).

[5:4]  ⁵ tn Or “estranged”; BDAG 526 s.v. καταργέω 4 states, “Of those who aspire to righteousness through the law κ. ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ be estranged from Christ Gal 5:4.”

[5:6]  ⁶ tn Grk “but faith working through love.”

[5:16]  ⁷ tn Grk “walk” (a common NT idiom for how one conducts one’s life or how one behaves).

[5:16]  ⁸ tn On the term “flesh” (once in this verse and twice in v. 17) see the note on the same word in Gal 5:13.

[5:17]  ⁹ tn The words “has desires” do not occur in the Greek text a second time, but are repeated in the translation for clarity.

[5:17]  ¹⁰ tn Or “are hostile toward” (L&N 39.1).

[5:19]  ¹¹ tn See the note on the word “flesh” in Gal 5:13.

[5:19]  ¹² tn Or “clear,” “evident.”

[5:20]  ¹³ tn Or “witchcraft.”

[5:20]  ¹⁴ tn Or “enmities,” “[acts of] hatred.”

[5:20]  ¹⁵ tn Or “discord” (L&N 39.22).

[5:20]  ¹⁶ tn Or “discord(s)” (L&N 39.13).

[5:21]  ¹⁷ tn This term is plural in Greek (as is “murder” and “carousing”), but for clarity these abstract nouns have been translated as singular.

[5:21]  ¹⁸ tc ‡ φόνοι (fonoi, “murders”) is absent in such important mss as Ì⁴⁶ א B 33 81 323 945 pc sa, while the majority of mss (A C D F G Ψ 0122 0278 1739 1881 Ï lat) have the word. Although the pedigree of the mss which lack the term is of the highest degree, homoioteleuton may well explain the shorter reading. The preceding word has merely one letter difference, making it quite possible to overlook this term (φθόνοι φόνοι, fqonoi fonoi).

[5:21]  ¹⁹ tn Or “revelings,” “orgies” (L&N 88.287).