Galatians 5

Christ set us free so that we would be free. So stand firm, and do not let yourselves be tied up again under a yoke of slavery.

1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

NoteA yoke is the heavy wooden bar laid across the necks of a pair of oxen to harness them to a plow or cart. In the ancient world it was a standard image for being owned and driven by someone else, and 'the yoke of bondage' means the harness of a slave. Jewish teachers could speak approvingly of taking up 'the yoke of the law'; Paul is using the same picture the other way around.

2Pay attention. I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all.

2Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.

NoteCircumcision is the cutting away of the foreskin, performed on Jewish boys on the eighth day after birth. It was the physical mark of belonging to the people descended from Abraham. For a grown Gentile man in Galatia, submitting to it was the decisive step in converting to Judaism, so what Paul is arguing about is not a minor procedure but a change of whole allegiance.

3Once more I say plainly to every man who gets circumcised: he is now under obligation to obey the whole law.

3For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

Note'The law' means the law of Moses, the entire body of commands in the first five books of the Bible, ritual and civil as well as moral. Circumcision was the entry point into that system, and Paul's argument is that a man who steps through the door takes on everything inside it. 'Debtor' is the language of owing a debt: he is now under obligation to pay the whole of it.

4Any of you who are trying to be made right with God by keeping the law have been cut off from Christ. You have fallen away from grace.

4Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

Note'Justified' is a courtroom word. It means declared to be in the right, acquitted, rather than gradually improved. 'Grace' means a gift given freely to someone who has not earned it and cannot repay it. The Greek verb behind 'Christ is become of no effect unto you' means to be severed or cut loose from something.

5But by faith, and through the Spirit, we wait eagerly for the being-right-with-God that we hope for.

5For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

Note'Righteousness' translates a word that covers both being put in the right with God and the standing that results from it. The sentence can be read as waiting for that verdict itself or waiting for what the verdict leads to, and the Greek does not separate the two.

6In Christ Jesus, being circumcised counts for nothing, and being uncircumcised counts for nothing. What counts is faith that works through love.

6For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

7You were running the race well. Who got in your way and kept you from obeying the truth?

7Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

NotePaul switches to the footrace, a familiar sight in any Greek city with its athletic games. The verb behind 'hinder' was used of breaking up a road or barricading a path to stop an advancing army, and of cutting in front of a runner.

8That kind of persuading does not come from the God who calls you.

8This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.

9A little yeast works its way through the whole batch of dough.

9A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

NoteLeaven is a lump of dough held back from an earlier batch and left to ferment, then kneaded into fresh dough to raise it. A very small piece changes the whole mass. The line is a proverb, quoted here without Paul saying outright what the 'little' stands for.

10I am confident in the Lord that you will not end up thinking any other way. But whoever is stirring you up will bear the penalty, no matter who he is.

10I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.

11Brothers, if I am still preaching that men must be circumcised, why am I still being persecuted? If that were so, the cross would no longer offend anyone.

11And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.

Note'Offence' translates skandalon, the trigger stick of a trap or a stone that trips a walker: something that brings you down, not something that hurts your feelings. Crucifixion was the Roman execution reserved for slaves and rebels, so announcing a crucified man as God's chosen one was a public outrage. The last clause is a conditional: if Paul really were requiring circumcision, that outrage would have been removed, and with it the reason anyone persecutes him.

12As for the men who are stirring you up, I wish they would go all the way and cut everything off.

12I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

NoteThe Greek verb means to cut off completely, and in this context it plainly means castration. Paul is playing on circumcision: if cutting is what these teachers are so eager for, let them go the whole way. Two things sharpen it for his readers. Galatia was a center of the worship of the mother goddess Cybele, whose priests castrated themselves; and the law of Moses barred a castrated man from the assembly (Deuteronomy 23:1). The remark is meant to shock.

13Brothers, you were called to be free. Only do not use that freedom as an opening for the flesh. Instead, serve one another in love.

13For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Note'The flesh' is Paul's term for human nature running on its own and set on getting what it wants. It does not mean the body as opposed to the soul, and it is not only about sex: his list in verses 19 to 21 includes rivalry, rage and faction, which are not bodily appetites at all. 'An occasion' translates a military word for a base of operations, the foothold from which an attack is launched.

14For the whole law is fulfilled in one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

14For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

NoteThe quoted command is from Leviticus 19:18. 'Neighbour' there means the person beside you, the member of your own community whom you actually have to deal with.

15But if you keep biting and tearing at each other, watch out, or you will destroy one another.

15But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

NoteThe verbs are the ones used of animals tearing at each other, and 'consumed' is the word for being eaten up or finished off entirely.

16So I say this: live by the Spirit, and you will not carry out what the flesh wants.

16This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

17The flesh wants what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against the flesh. The two are opposed to each other, so you do not do the things you want to do.

17For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

NoteThe last clause is genuinely ambiguous in Greek and has been read both ways: that the conflict keeps you from doing the good you intend, or that it keeps you from simply doing whatever you please.

18But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not under the law.

18But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Note'Under the law' means under the law of Moses as the authority you live by and are judged by, not subject to rules in general.

19The things the flesh does are out in the open. They are: being unfaithful to your husband or wife, sexual sin, impurity, and wild, shameless behavior;

19Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

NoteThe King James lists four items here; the earliest surviving manuscripts have three, without 'adultery'. 'Fornication' translates porneia, a broad term covering sexual activity outside marriage of every kind. 'Uncleanness' is impurity, moral dirtiness. 'Lasciviousness' is aselgeia, unrestrained indecency: behavior with no sense of shame about being seen.

20worshiping idols, practicing witchcraft, hating people, quarreling, jealous rivalry, fits of anger, fighting for your own side, splitting people apart, forming rival groups,

20Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

NoteSeveral of these words have narrowed or shifted since 1611. 'Witchcraft' is pharmakeia, literally the handling of drugs and potions, which in the ancient world meant spells, charms and magic. 'Variance' is quarreling. 'Emulations' is jealous rivalry, wanting what another has. 'Wrath' here is plural, meaning outbursts of temper rather than a settled attitude. 'Strife' is self-seeking partisanship, originally the spirit of a hired politician working a crowd. 'Seditions' is splitting into opposing camps. 'Heresies' is the ordinary Greek word for parties or schools of thought; in Paul's day it meant a group you chose to belong to, not false doctrine.

21envying others, murder, getting drunk, wild parties, and things like these. I am warning you now, as I warned you before, that people who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

NoteSome early manuscripts do not include 'murders'; in Greek the words for envy (phthonoi) and murders (phonoi) differ by a single letter, and a copyist could easily add or drop it. 'Revellings' translates komoi, the drunken night processions that wound through the streets in honor of the wine god, and by Paul's time any rowdy carousing. 'The kingdom of God' means God's rule and the coming life under it, and 'inherit' is the language of receiving a promised estate as an heir.

22But the fruit the Spirit grows is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Note'Fruit' is singular in Greek: one crop with several aspects, not a list of separate items to be collected one at a time. 'Longsuffering' is patience that holds out under provocation and delay. 'Gentleness' here translates chrestotes, which means kindness, the quality of being good to deal with. 'Faith' in this list means faithfulness, being reliable and keeping your word, rather than belief.

23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like these.

23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Note'Meekness' translates prautes, which does not mean timidity or weakness. It is a settled gentleness, strength that feels no need to assert itself. 'Temperance' means self-control, mastery over one's own appetites, not abstinence from alcohol, which is the sense the word later acquired in English. The closing phrase is deliberate understatement: no legal code anywhere forbids such things.

24And those who belong to Christ have nailed the flesh to the cross, along with its passions and cravings.

24And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Note'Affections and lusts' is 1611 English for passions and desires. 'Lust' then covered any strong craving of any kind, not specifically sexual desire.

25If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

25If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

NoteThe verb rendered 'walk' here is not the same one used in verse 16. This one means to stand in line or keep in step, as soldiers do in rank or as a row of things set in order, so the sense is keeping pace with the Spirit rather than simply going in the same general direction.

26Let us not become full of ourselves, provoking one another and envying one another.

26Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

Note'Vain glory' is kenodoxia, literally empty reputation: being hungry for other people's good opinion and puffed up by it.