Galatians 5
Stand Firm in Christian Liberty 1–6
Warning Against False Persuasion 7–12
Freedom in Christ 13–15
Walk in the Spirit 16–18
The Works of the Flesh 19–21
The Fruit of the Spirit 22–26
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Galatians 5
Verse 1
the yoke of bondage — Zygos, the yoke laid on an animal’s neck. Peter used the word of the law at Jerusalem: ‘a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear’ (Acts 15:10); Christ’s own yoke is ‘easy’ (Matt 11:30). ‘Entangled again’ returns to 4:9, ‘again to be in bondage’, and ‘free’ answers 4:31.
Verse 2
if ye be circumcised — Paul puts his own name behind the warning: ‘I Paul say’. The teaching he opposes is that of Acts 15:1, ‘Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved’. The warning is against taking circumcision as a ground of standing, for ‘circumcision is nothing’ (1 Cor 7:19), and Titus was not ‘compelled’ (2:3).
Verse 3
a debtor to do the whole law — Opheiletes, one who owes, as in Rom 8:12, ‘we are debtors, not to the flesh’. Circumcision cannot be taken up alone: whoever receives it takes on the whole obligation, ‘all things which are written in the book of the law to do them’ (3:10), ‘guilty of all’ if he fails in one point (Jas 2:10).
Verse 4
fallen from grace — Ekpipto, ‘to fall out of’, is used of chains that ‘fell off’ Peter’s hands (Acts 12:7) and of the flower that ‘falleth away’ (1 Pet 1:24). Grace is the ground Paul will not ‘frustrate’ (2:21); whoever seeks to be ‘justified by the law’ leaves it. ‘Of no effect’ is katargeo, the verb of ‘ceased’ in v.11.
Verse 6
faith which worketh by love — Energeo, ‘to be at work’, is the verb of Phil 2:13, ‘it is God which worketh in you’. Faith is active through love (agape), the first of the Spirit’s fruit in v.22. The verse is paired with 6:15, ‘neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature’.
Verse 7
Ye did run well — The race is Paul’s figure for his own course (2:2, ‘lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain’) and for the believer’s (1 Cor 9:24; Heb 12:1). ‘Hinder’ is enkopto, ‘to cut into’, as a runner is cut off. ‘That ye should not obey the truth’ repeats 3:1 word for word.
Verse 9
A little leaven — The same words stand in 1 Cor 5:6, there of sin tolerated in a church; here the leaven is the teaching that is spreading. Zyme, leaven, is fermented dough, put out of the house at Passover (Ex 12:15), and Christ spoke of ‘the leaven of the Pharisees’ (Mark 8:15). A small amount works through the whole lump.
Verse 11
the offence of the cross — Skandalon, a snare or stumbling-block, is the word of 1 Cor 1:23, ‘we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock’. Had Paul preached circumcision as well, the cross would cease to offend (katargeo, as in v.4), and the ‘persecution’ of 4:29 and 6:12 would end with it.
Verse 12
cut off — Apokopto, ‘to cut away’, is used of the ear Peter struck off (John 18:10) and the ropes the soldiers cut (Acts 27:32). It is read as a bitter irony on circumcision (cf. Phil 3:2, ‘the concision’) or as being cut off from the congregation (cf. 5:4, ‘fallen from grace’). ‘Trouble’ is anastatoo, to unsettle, used of those who ‘turned the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6).
Verse 13
by love serve one another — ‘Serve’ is douleuo, to serve as a slave, the verb of ‘in bondage’ in 4:8, 9, 25. Liberty is turned to service through love and gives the flesh no ‘occasion’ (aphorme, a starting-point, as in Rom 7:8, 11), living ‘as free… but as the servants of God’ (1 Pet 2:16).
Verse 14
all the law is fulfilled in one word — Quoted from Lev 19:18, ‘thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’. Paul says the same in Rom 13:9–10, ‘love is the fulfilling of the law’, and Christ named it the second commandment (Mark 12:31). Gal 6:2 speaks of fulfilling ‘the law of Christ’.
Verse 16
Walk in the Spirit — Peripateo, ‘to walk about’, is the word for conduct, as in Rom 8:4, ‘who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit’. ‘Ye shall not fulfil’ is a double negative (ou me), a firm ‘by no means’: walking in the Spirit and carrying out the ‘lust’ (epithymia) of the flesh do not go together.
Verse 17
the flesh lusteth against the Spirit — ‘Lusteth’ is epithymeo, the verb of the ‘lust’ in v.16, and the Spirit’s part is stated with it understood. ‘Contrary’ is antikeimai, ‘to lie opposed’, the word for ‘adversaries’ in 1 Cor 16:9. The struggle is told in Paul’s own words in Rom 7:15, ‘what I would, that do I not’.
Verse 18
led of the Spirit — Ago, ‘to lead’, is the verb of Rom 8:14, ‘as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God’, the sons of 4:6. ‘Under the law’ is the phrase of 4:5, and ‘not under the law’ is that of Rom 6:14, ‘ye are not under the law, but under grace’.
Verse 19
the works of the flesh — ‘Works’ is the word of ‘the works of the law’ (3:2, 5, 10); against both stands the single ‘fruit’ of v.22. They are ‘manifest’ (phaneros), open to sight. The list begins with sins of the body (‘fornication’ is porneia) and ends in v.21 with ‘shall not inherit the kingdom of God’, as in 1 Cor 6:9–10.
Verse 20
witchcraft… heresies — The list moves from idolatry and ‘witchcraft’ (pharmakeia, drug-sorcery, as in Rev 9:21) to sins between people: hatred, strife, ‘seditions’ (dichostasia, standing apart) and ‘heresies’ (hairesis, a party or sect, as in 1 Cor 11:19, ‘there must be also heresies among you’).
Verse 22
the fruit of the Spirit is love — ‘Fruit’ (karpos) is singular against the plural ‘works’ of v.19. Nine qualities follow in vv.22–23, headed by agape, the love of vv.6 and 14. Col 3:12–14 gives a like list, with love as ‘the bond of perfectness’. ‘Gentleness’ is chrestotes, kindness.
Verse 23
against such there is no law — ‘Temperance’ is enkrateia, self-control, the last of the nine and a subject Paul ‘reasoned’ of before Felix (Acts 24:25). The law judges the works of vv.19–21 but has nothing to charge here, since ‘the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient’ (1 Tim 1:9).
Verse 24
crucified the flesh — The verb is a past act of ‘they that are Christ’s’ (3:29), the counterpart of 2:20, ‘I am crucified with Christ’, and of Rom 6:6. ‘Affections’ is pathema, passions, and ‘lusts’ (epithymia) is the word of vv.16–17. Col 3:5 gives the command, ‘Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth’.
Verse 25
let us also walk in the Spirit — A different verb from v.16: stoicheo, to march in rank, used again in 6:16, ‘as many as walk according to this rule’, and Phil 3:16, ‘let us walk by the same rule’. ‘If we live’ states the fact, life by the Spirit; the walk is to keep step with it.