Christ is freedom, law is slavery
1 Christ has set us free, so stand firm and do not chain yourselves to slavery again. 2 Now look! I, Paul, am telling you that if allow yourselves to be circumcised, then Christ will be of no use to you. 3 I solemnly testify to you that everyone who does this is obligated to perform the whole Law perfectly. 4 You who think justification comes from the Law have been “cut away” from Christ and “fallen off” of God’s favor!
4 5 We who are of the Spirit hope in faith for the righteousness we await. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor un-circumcision matters, but only faith operating through love. 7 You were running a great race; who cut in on you and pushed you away from the truth? 8 This gullibility certainly doesn’t come from the One who called you! 9 “It only takes a little yeast to make the whole loaf rise.” 10 But I have confidence in you from the Master, that you will get back on course. Yet the one who is disturbing you will face judgment, whoever it may be. 11 Sisters and brothers, if I am still pushing circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? Without the cross, the Judeans wouldn’t be offended. 12 If only those who are disturbing you would keep cutting until the whole thing is gone!12
Freedom is not license
13 You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters— not freedom to indulge the flesh but to enslave yourselves to each other out of love. 14 For the entire Law is encapsulated in this one sentence: “You must love others as you love yourself.” 15 But if you keep backbiting each other, beware that you don’t consume each other! 16 So I say, keep pace with the Spirit and do not give in to the cravings of the flesh. 17 For flesh and Spirit continually fight against each other and get in the way of your doing what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under law.
19 Now what the flesh does is obvious: harlotry, impurity, vice, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, rivalry, tension, fits of rage, factions, disputes, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties and so on. I warned you about all that, just as I warned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the evidence of the Spirit is love, happiness, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustworthiness, 23 gentleness, and self-control; there is no law against any of that. 24 Now those of us who are united with Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its feelings and desires. 25 If we are living in the Spirit let us keep pace with the Spirit. 26 Then we will not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
- 4 Paul is using double entendre, comparing the act of circumcision to what happens when people separate themselves from the favor of God by going back under the Law.
- 12 Once again Paul is using crudity in his ire against those advocating circumcision.