GALATIANS 5:13-26
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

One objection against the message of grace, the gospel of justification by faith apart from works, is that it implies antinomianism (lawlessness), which leads to gross moral licentiousness. Before considering Paul's answer, we must first recognize that although this objection pertains to an important issue, it is not strictly relevant to the debate – it is a pragmatic argument that does not directly support the principle of justification by works or refute the gospel of justification by faith.

That said, there are indeed those who slip into an antinomian mindset and licentious conduct once they claim to affirm justification by faith. But even at an earlier point Paul has demonstrated that this can occur only due to a disregard for the actual teaching of the gospel (2:17-20). Now as Paul begins a concluding section on the ethical applications of the theological principles previously established, he writes, "do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature." The kind of freedom that Christ gives is not the freedom to sin. The word translated "sinful nature" in the NIV is sarx, or flesh. In Paul's writings, as it is here (v. 16-26), it is often used in contrast to pneuma, or spirit. The NIV's translation gives the meaning, but in doing so obscures the contrast.

Rather than using their freedom as a pretext or springboard to indulge their sinful nature, they are to "serve one another in love." The literal meaning here is to be servants or slaves to one another. After telling the Galatians to "stand firm" on their freedom in Christ, Paul is not now contradicting himself by saying that they should become slaves in the sense of enslavement to the law. Christ has set us free from a type of bondage that is burdensome and oppressive, and that results in death and not life. But now he tells his readers to serve one another in love, and not under legalistic compulsion.

Paul continues, "The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Notice what he is not saying. He is not saying that for Christians there is no longer any law or ethical standard. Rather, he tells them to serve one another, and to do so because of love, on the basis of the law itself. And he is not saying that the Old Testament law is now replaced by some novel New Testament standard, since "love your neighbor as yourself" also comes from the law (Leviticus 19:18).

Further, he is not saying that we can disregard the rest of God's moral precepts if we will keep in mind just the one: "Love your neighbor as yourself." This is because the "love" in this command is itself defined and explained by the other precepts of the law. The command merely sums up or fulfills all the other commands that pertain to human relationships. But if the former sums up or fulfills the latter, then means that the latter is not ignored or abolished, but rather respected and carried out by the former (Romans 13:8-10).

What is it then? Paul never said that the law has been abolished in every sense, or that its ethical demands are now irrelevant. Murder is still murder, adultery is still adultery, and theft is still theft. In fact, the Scripture declares, "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people" (Jeremiah 31:33). This is what has happened in the hearts of those who believe. That is, they are to truly fulfill the law, not as those who seek justification through works, but as those who have been justified through faith in Christ.

The way to avoid indulging the flesh is to "live by the Spirit" (v. 16), or literally to "walk" by the Spirit. This does not mean to follow the Spirit in some mystical sense, but the idea is ethical (v. 19-26). With this, Paul begins to make a sharp contrast, and even sets up an opposition, between the flesh and the Spirit. Their desires are "contrary" to each other, and they are "in conflict" with each other. To be agreeable to one is to be against the other. Thus Paul says to "live by the Spirit" (v. 16) or be "led by the Spirit" (v. 18), or to "keep in step with the Spirit" (v. 25).

There is an important application in developing holiness. In recognizing and resisting the desires of the flesh, the Christian must not allow his focus to become purely negative. Because the flesh and the Spirit are so opposed to each other, when his energy is directed toward loving God and neighbor, and toward keeping in step with the Spirit, he will by necessity not gratify the flesh. Such an approach also naturally avoids a legalistic mindset.

Continuing the contrast, Paul provides two catalogs illustrating the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Under the works of the flesh he lists sexual, religious, mental, emotional, and relational sins. Some of the items appear to overlap. Since he concludes the list with "and the like," these items are meant to illustrate, and not intended as a perfectly proportioned representative list of the works of the flesh.

The same can be said concerning the list of the fruit of the Spirit – it is not necessarily exhaustive, but the items illustrate the virtues that the Spirit produces in the believer. Even the legalists cannot argue against things like love, patience, kindness, and self-control – "against these things there is no law."

In telling the Galatians not to indulge the flesh, Paul is not adding to this message of grace or backtracking from his previous arguments in the letter. He reminds the readers that he already told them about these things before (v. 21), and even that "those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God" – that is, those who live like this are not even Christians.

So it has been his consistent teaching to advocate grace without condoning licentiousness. On the other hand, as he has stated in 2:19-20, "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires" (v. 24). And now they should and could "keep in step with the Spirit" (v. 25).

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