Galatians 5
1 With her freedom, Christ hath made you, free. Stand fast, therefore, and do not, again, with a yoke of servitude, be held fast!
Christ having made us gloriously free--stand fast and do not again be hampered with the yoke of slavery.
2 See! I, Paul, say unto you—if ye be getting circumcised, Christ will profit you, nothing.
Remember that it is I Paul who tell you that if you receive circumcision Christ will avail you nothing.
3 Yea, I bear solemn witness again, unto every man getting circumcised, —that he is, a debtor, to do, the whole law.
I once more protest to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to obey the whole Law of Moses.
4 Ye have been set aside from Christ, ye who, by law, are to be declared righteous, —out of his favour, ye have fallen;
Christ has become nothing to any of you who are seeking acceptance with God through the Law: you have fallen away from grace.
5 For, we, in Spirit, by faith, for a hope of righteousness, are ardently waiting, —
We have not, for through the Spirit we wait with longing hope for an acceptance with God which is to come through faith.
6 For, in Christ [Jesus], neither, circumcision, availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith, through love, energising.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any importance; but only faith working through love.
7 Ye were running well: —who hath hindered you, that, by truth, ye are not to be persuaded?
You were running the race nobly! Who has interfered and caused you to swerve from the truth?
8 The persuasion, [is] not of him that calleth you: —
No such teaching ever proceeded from Him who is calling you.
9 A little leaven, leaveneth, the whole lump.
A little yeast corrupts the whole of the dough.
10 I, am persuaded regarding you, in the Lord—that, for nothing else, ye will have any regard; but, he that is troubling you, shall bear the sentence, —whosoever he may be.
For my part I have strong confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt my view of the matter. But the man--be he who he may--who is troubling you, will have to bear the full weight of the judgement to be pronounced on him.
11 I, however, brethren—if, circumcision, I yet proclaim, why am I yet persecuted? After all, the stumbling-block of the cross hath been set aside.
As for me, brethren, if I am still a preacher of circumcision, how is it that I am still suffering persecution? In that case the Cross has ceased to be a stumbling-block!
12 Oh! that they would even leave off in dismay, who are unsettling you!
Would to God that those who are unsettling your faith would even mutilate themselves.
13 For, ye, on a footing of freedom, were called, brethren, —only, [turn] not your freedom into an occasion to the flesh, but, by means of your love, be serving one another;
You however, brethren, were called to freedom. Only do not turn your freedom into an excuse for giving way to your lower natures; but become bondservants to one another in a spirit of love.
14 For, the whole law, in one word, is summed up—[namely] in this, —Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself.
For the entire Law has been obeyed when you have kept the single precept, which says, "You are to love your fellow man equally with yourself."
15 If, however, one another, ye bite and devour, take heed lest, by one another, ye be consumed!
But if you are perpetually snarling and snapping at one another, beware lest you are destroyed by one another.
16 I say, moreover—by Spirit, be walking, and, fleshly coveting, ye will in nowise fulfil;
This then is what I mean. Let your lives be guided by the Spirit, and then you will certainly not indulge the cravings of your lower natures.
17 For, the flesh, coveted against the Spirit, but, the Spirit, against the flesh, —for, these, unto one another, are opposed, lest, whatsoever things ye chance to desire, these, ye should be doing!
For the cravings of the lower nature are opposed to those of the Spirit, and the cravings of the Spirit are opposed to those of the lower nature; because these are antagonistic to each other, so that you cannot do everything to which you are inclined.
18 And, if, by Spirit, ye are being led, ye are not under law.
But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not subject to Law.
19 Manifest, however, are the works of the flesh, which, indeed, are—fornication, impurity, wantonness,
Now you know full well the doings of our lower natures. Fornication, impurity, indecency, idol-worship, sorcery;
20 idolatry, enchantment, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, factions, divisions, parties,
enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of passion, intrigues, dissensions, factions, envyings;
21 envyings, drunkenness, revellings; —and such things as these: as to which I forewarn you, even as I have forewarned you, —that, they who such things as these do practise, shall not inherit, God’s kingdom.
hard drinking, riotous feasting, and the like. And as to these I forewarn you, as I have already forewarned you, that those who are guilty of such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God.
22 But, the fruit of the Spirit, is—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, graciousness, goodness, faithfulness,
The Spirit, on the other hand, brings a harvest of love, joy, peace; patience towards others, kindness, benevolence;
23 meekness, self-control; —against such things as these, there is no law.
good faith, meekness, self-restraint.
24 And, they who are of Christ Jesus, have crucified, the flesh, with its susceptibilities and covetings.
Against such things as these there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their lower nature with its passions and appetites.
25 If we live by Spirit, by Spirit, let us also walk.
If we are living by the Spirit's power, let our conduct also be governed by the Spirit's power.
26 Let us not become vain-glorious, —one another, challenging, one another, envying.
Let us not become vain-glorious, challenging one another, envying one another.
