Galatians 5:1-26

Written ~ 09-18-2024

Read Galatians Chapter Five

Galatians 5

Did you read through chapter five? If you did you’ll see we have a lot to cover! So let’s dive in!

Galatians 5:1…

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.”

Have you ever really thought about the things that have kept you enslaved to the standards of this world? Do you have habits or sinful behaviors or attitudes that you haven’t confessed and given over to the Lord? If you know that Christ has set you free of those things, what is the reason you are still holding onto unconfessed sinful behaviors? Repentance is a turning away from sin… Paul is saying here in verse one… if you know you are free, don’t get tied up again! I’m not talking about the troubles, the trials, and the tribulations we all will experience in this life… I am talking about the things we do intentionally to bring dishonor to the Name of Jesus.

Galatians 5:2-3…

2 “Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision (the old covenant, tradition, ritual, doing ‘good works’) 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 (holding tight to that old covenant and trying to be a good person), you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses.”

If we are still behaving in such a way that doesn’t show the evidence we are free in Christ, we need to go back and read Galatians 2:21, “I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law (the old covenant) could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.”

Galatians 5:4-6…

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.”

It seems to me that the Galatian believers had digressed from their relationship with Christ. Sounds like they reverted back to their old ways by doing things their own way. They were trying to recreate forgiveness of sin by doing what they could to live “good” lives. They were missing the point of why Jesus came to the earth and the reason for Him dying on the cross. Why would anyone want to cut themselves off from God’s grace? I believe it is an unintentional or possibly even an intentional decline of fellowship with the Lord Jesus! When we allow the things of this world to take the place of the Lord, there will be a decline in our relationship with our Savior. If we try really hard to be “good people” but don’t seek forgiveness of sin, we can begin to feel cut off from Christ. Then it might be that we try “to do good things” to outweigh the bad so we can feel better about our situation. Why doesn’t that seem to work? Because God through His Holy Spirit longs for us to have the type of faith and trust in Jesus that He becomes our only source to making things right. Look again at verse 5:5, “But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us.” We have a promise of God’s Grace to behold when we live our lives fully in close relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ! Trying to do things on our own terms will never benefit us. It will only lead to confusion and despair. It is Christ alone who we should be turning to, in everything.

Look at what Paul states in verse 5:7, “You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?” That’s a very good question to stop and ponder. Ask it to yourself. Do you have anyone in your life right now that pulls you away from following the truth of Jesus Christ with the fullness of joy and praise? In verse 5:8 it says, “It certainly isn’t God, for He is the one who called you to freedom.” We cannot blame our “cut-off” relationship with Jesus on God. He is not the one who has pulled away.

Galatians 5:16-18…

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.”

Verse 5:18 in the Message Version (MSG) says it this way:

18 “Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?”

What we learn from these verses is that we will always be at battle within ourselves either to walk with Jesus in everything we do or carry out our sinful nature desires. Do we give into our fleshly desires? Or do we live wholeheartedly for the Lord? Our human nature is sinful, it is evil, and it is in complete opposition to what the Holy Spirit desires for our lives. “These two forces are constantly fighting each other.” It would seem, for the believer at least, that the choice would be easy to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, doesn’t it? But Paul makes it clear that we have a constant battle going on within us, to do as the Holy Spirit leads, or give into our sinful nature. Verse 5:16, “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives…”

As we go about our day, if our hearts and minds are in tune with what the Holy Spirit presses upon our hearts, we are less likely to fall into those internal cravings of our sinful nature. I think it’s important to recognize what those sinful cravings are in your life. It is in those areas especially that we need to ask the Holy Spirit to lead us through  or completely around those temptations.

Let’s continue with the next set of verses… it’s possible you’ll look at the list Paul gives as desires of our sinful nature and think you wouldn’t or couldn’t be a part of any of that… but be very careful not to assume that you are above the temptation of any of these things…

(I will be listing the following verses in both the New Living Translation – NLT and The Message Version – MSG)

Galatians 5:19-21 (NLT)…

19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear:

  • Sexual Immorality
  • Impurity
  • Lustful Pleasures
  • Idolatry
  • Sorcery (witchcraft)
  • Hostility
  • Quarreling
  • Jealousy
  • Outbursts of Anger
  • Selfish Ambition
  • Dissension
  • Division
  • Envy
  • Drunkenness
  • Wild Parties

21 Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

Galatians 5:19-21 (MSG)

19 “It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time:

  • Repetitive, Loveless, Cheap Sex
  • A stinking accumulation of Mental and Emotional Garbage
  • Frenzied and Joyless grabs for Happiness
  • Trinket gods
  • Magic-show religion
  • Paranoid Loneliness (distrustful of others)
  • Cutthroat Competition
  • All-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants
  • A Brutal Temper
  • An impotence (lack of power or lack of strength) to love or be loved
  • Divided Homes and Divided Lives
  • Small-minded and Lopsided Pursuits
  • The vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival (meaning if someone else can’t see things your way, then they become your enemy)
  • Uncontrolled and Uncontrollable Addictions
  • Ugly Parodies (a ridiculous imitation) of Community

21 This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.”

As believers, we have a heightened desire to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, so it should be that our sinful nature peeks its ugly head less and less. God forgives the repentant, sinful heart. So it may be that we struggle with a few areas of disobedience to the Word of God, but we know God’s mercy, we know His forgiveness. It’s up to us to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us through every aspect of our lives – good or bad. Another thing we MUST understand, the non-believer, the person who has not yet put their trust in the Lord will not have the prompting of the Holy Spirit to steer them away from their sinful desires. They don’t know to listen to His voice. That’s why we need to pray constantly for our unsaved loved ones to find Salvation in Jesus Christ. Otherwise, they will perish in their sin.

Ephesians 5:10-11, 15a says, “Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools…”

Let’s reiterate verse Galatians 5:16, 16 “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” 

Now we get to focus on what the Holy Spirit gives us!!

Galatians 5:22-26…

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!

24 Those 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.”

Growing up I was very familiar with Galatians 5:22-23. The fruit of the Holy Spirit:

  • Love
  • Joy
  • Peace
  • Patience
  • Kindness
  • Goodness
  • Faithfulness
  • Gentleness
  • Self-Control

But it wasn’t until very recently that I really took notice of verses 5:24-26.

Galatians 5:16-26 give us a complete outline of how we should live when the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our hearts, minds, and souls. These verses show us the “do’s and don’ts” of Christian living. We must pay attention!

Galatians 5:24…

24 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there.”

When a non-believer comes to the point in their lives where they believe the truth of who Jesus is, it can hit them square in the face. As this happens, a very important decision needs to take place and that’s accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and it is life altering. Our sinful nature is a powerful force, it holds back a lot of decisions for Salvation. But when the heart is yielding, surrendering, it is time to go to the foot of the cross, figuratively speaking. It is time to take all the guilt, shame, addiction, anger, hurt, arrogance, hopelessness, loneliness and lay it down. It’s time to give it all to Jesus. When repentance happens there’s a supernatural and powerful thing that happens, Salvation! When Jesus hung on that cross at Calvary, He bore the sin of the world, He did that so we wouldn’t have the sentence of eternal death. With the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, when we respond to the truth that Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead and is alive and seated at the right Hand of Almighty God, with that response of acceptance and belief we now have life eternal! So, when the verse 5:24 says, “…we have nailed the passions and desires of our sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there…” that means everything that has kept us living in a very dark place, has now been left at the cross where Jesus already forgave and removed every sin from us. With this action of “nailing and crucifying” our sin on the cross, it can give us a very tangible visual that the sin in our lives has been put to death and we never again should reach up and try to remove it from the nails, no, they are dead and gone, they are forgiven.

Galatians 5:25…

25 “Since we are living by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

The most miraculous occurrence that takes place, when someone gives their heart to Jesus Christ, is that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Almighty God takes up residence in their heart, mind, and soul. It means we now have the greatest teacher living within us to help guide us through life as a believer in Jesus Christ. When we enter into the saving power of Christ the Lord, we automatically receive the Holy Spirit, He brings new life. Thus, we are born again, we are born into a new life with Jesus and the Holy Spirit is our guide. So, guess what? You’re now a radical born-again believer in Jesus Christ! Don’t let that scare you, it simply means that your life has been forever changed. Let’s go back to verse 5:24…

“Since we are living by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

As we follow the direction of the Holy Spirit, we should begin to see the development, the supernatural production of spiritual fruits given to us by the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23…

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

Some of these attributes may not come easily to some of us, that’s why as we learn and grow in our walk with Jesus, these fruits become real, they become intertwined with who we are. Our personalities begin to soften as the Holy Spirit weaves His love, His joy, His peace, His patience, His kindness, His goodness, His faithfulness, His gentleness, His self-control into our lives. These spiritual fruits become our new identity.

Galatians 5 ends with verse 26, it’s an important verse, not to be overlooked…

26 “Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”

Why do you think Paul added that sentence to this passage? I believe it’s because of our sinful nature. The speed at which one person grows in their walk with the Lord is completely different from the next. It is easy to compare our “fruit” with someone else’s. Paul warns us not to become conceited. If you are learning by leaps and bounds all sorts of wonderful and powerful things from the Holy Spirit, choose to teach others! Don’t think of yourself as “high and mighty” and better than everyone else because you are learning these things with ease. But also, Paul warns not to be jealous of one another. So, what if you are the type of person who has a much more difficult time understanding spiritual truths, does that give you the right to be jealous of those who learn more quickly? No, it may just be that you need to humble yourself and ask for help, so you can understand, so you can benefit from what the Holy Spirit wants to show you. The other warning from Paul is, “do not provoke one another.” A few other words for provoke are aggravate, irritate, exasperate, upset. All of us have different ways of learning, all of us translate a meaning to a spiritual truth a little differently so it can be understood. It is not up to any one of us to point out those differences and make another believer feel inadequate. The Holy Spirit is the one who teaches and guides, if we have a problem with how someone else learns, then we need to take it up with the Holy Spirit, our hearts need to be opened and softened.

 My prayer is that we all learn from the Holy Spirit. We have the greatest resource of knowledge living right inside of us! Let’s have Him cultivate our hearts, we need Him to make our hearts ready for all He wants to pour into us. My heartfelt prayer is that each of us bears the fruit of the Holy Spirit. To be known by our fruit. So, we can be pointed out as one of those radical born-again believers! Enjoy this journey called Christianity! You are alive in Christ!

~AMEN~