Freedom and the Spirit: how the free live

Galatians 5 and 6 are the third part of a letter written to churches that were being told they must add circumcision and the law of Moses to faith in Christ. Chapters 1 to 4 have argued that the gospel comes by revelation, that the promise to Abraham is received by faith, and that believers are sons, not slaves. The final chapters ask the obvious question: if believers are free from the law as a system of standing before God, how are they to live? The opponents could argue that without the law the Gentile believers would become lawless. Paul answers that freedom is not licence, and that life in the Spirit does what the law pointed to.

The letter is addressed to churches in Galatia, a region whose location (North Galatia, or the South Galatian cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe) and date (between about AD 48 and the mid-50s) are debated. The mention of Paul's 'large letters' and writing with his own hand (6:11) fits the ancient practice of using a scribe for most of the letter and adding a closing paragraph personally. The practical picture is of congregations divided over the troublers, biting and devouring one another (5:15), and in need of both correction and a positive picture of the Spirit-led life.

The broader setting is the Greco-Roman world's moral landscape. The Gentile Galatians had come out of pagan life with its idolatry and sexual licence, and Paul's list of the acts of the flesh reflects that world. Paul's lists of vices and virtues also resemble lists used by Jewish and Greek moral teachers, but he gives them a different centre: the work of the Spirit.

Chapters 5 and 6 are exhortation (paraenesis) built on the argument of the earlier chapters. A rule of interpretation for the New Testament letters applies strongly here: the commands follow from what God has done in Christ. Paul's 'Stand firm, then' in 5:1 rests on 'It is for freedom that Christ has set us free', and the later commands to walk by the Spirit rest on the statement in 5:25 that believers live by the Spirit. The imperative flows from the indicative.

The passage also uses a pair of opposing terms, 'flesh' (sarx) and 'Spirit' (pneuma). Paul does not mean by 'flesh' the physical body as such, which he does not treat as evil. In 5:13-24 the flesh is human nature turned against God and under the power of sin, which can express itself in the religious as well as the immoral. The 'acts of the flesh' include rivalries and factions as well as sexual sins. The struggle in 5:17 is read in two main ways. Some take it as the daily struggle of the believer in whom both flesh and Spirit are active; others take it as describing what the Spirit now prevents, so that the flesh cannot get what it wants. The surrounding verses support the first reading, since Paul commands believers to walk by the Spirit.

Finally, the two lists in 5:19-23 are typical of ancient moral teaching but should not be read as complete. Paul says 'and the like', and the fruit is singular: one fruit with many aspects, not a menu of nine separate fruits.

Chapter 5:1–6

Paul begins with a command: stand firm and do not be burdened again with a yoke of slavery. If they let themselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to them. Circumcision here is not a minor ritual but a choice to place themselves under the whole law, with its demand for complete obedience (5:3). Those who seek justification by the law have been severed from Christ and have fallen from grace. To fall from grace here means to leave the ground of grace for a system built on law; how far this describes a loss of salvation is discussed in the tradition note. In contrast, 'by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness', and in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters, but faith expressed through love (5:5-6).

Chapter 5:7–12

'You were running so well.' The troubler, whoever he is, will bear the judgment. The saying about leaven (5:9) uses a common image: a small amount spreads through the whole batch. In 5:11 Paul reminds them that if he still preached circumcision he would not be persecuted, for the cross is an offence (skandalon) to those who rely on law. His sharp wish in 5:12 that the agitators would go all the way and cut themselves off is rough rhetoric, but it shows how much he thinks is at stake.

Chapter 5:13–15

They were called to freedom, but they must not use it as an opportunity for the flesh. Instead, serve one another in love. The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: love your neighbour as yourself (Leviticus 19:18). If they keep on biting and devouring one another, they will be consumed.

Chapter 5:16–26

The command is to walk by the Spirit, and then they will not gratify the desires of the flesh. The flesh and the Spirit are opposed, so believers do not do what they want. Those led by the Spirit are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are plain: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, discord, jealousy, rage, rivalries, divisions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like; those who practise such things 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 flesh with its passions and desires. 'Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit.' The Greek verb for 'walk in step' (stoicheō) is related to a word for a row or line, and suggests keeping step with a leader.

Chapter 6:1–10

If someone is caught in a trespass, the spiritual should restore him with gentleness, watching themselves. They should carry one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ. Verse 5, 'each one should carry his own load', uses a different word for the load and refers to personal responsibility before God, so there is no contradiction with verse 2. Those taught the word should share good things with their teacher. 'God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return', a principle of harvest that Paul applies to the flesh and the Spirit. They should not grow weary of doing good and, as there is opportunity, do good to everyone, especially the household of faith.

Chapter 6:11–18

Paul takes the pen himself: 'See what large letters I am using.' The agitators, he says, want to make a good impression outwardly and avoid persecution for the cross; they do not even keep the law themselves. 'But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Through the cross the world has been crucified to him, and he to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts, but a new creation. Peace and mercy are pronounced on all who follow this rule, 'even to the Israel of God'. Paul bears on his body the marks (stigmata) of Jesus, probably scars from beatings and stonings (2 Corinthians 11:23-25). The letter closes with grace.

The chapters teach that the gospel produces a new kind of life. The Spirit who was received by faith (3:2) is the power for the Christian life, and the character he produces is the opposite of the flesh. The doctrine of sanctification in Paul does not rest on law-keeping but on the indwelling Spirit. The law is fulfilled in love (5:14), as Jesus taught (Mark 12:28-31) and as Paul says again in Romans 13:8-10. The relationship of the believer to the law is one of the main theological questions of the letter, and Galatians 5 and 6 give the positive answer: believers are not under the law as a way to be justified, but they are not lawless, since love fulfils what the law required.

The passage also teaches that Christian life is a conflict. The believer still lives in the age of the flesh and must choose each day to walk by the Spirit. This is not a contradiction of 5:24, which says the flesh has been crucified, since the decisive break has been made while the struggle continues. The warning in 5:21 and 6:7-8 shows that Paul takes judgment seriously and that final inheritance is not indifferent to conduct.

In canonical terms, the fruit of the Spirit and the 'new creation' draw on the Old Testament promises of a new heart and the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26-27; Jeremiah 31:33). Their fulfilment is now in the church. The cross is the centre, as in Paul's other letters.

Christ is at the centre of both chapters. He has set believers free (5:1). Without him, circumcision cannot help, and with him, only faith expressed through love counts (5:6). The 'law of Christ' (6:2) is the law as fulfilled and embodied by him, who bore others' burdens (compare Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 8:17), and the burdens believers carry for one another imitate his own self-giving (Philippians 2:5-8). The Spirit is the Spirit of the Son (4:6), and the fruit of the Spirit is the character of Christ formed in believers (compare 4:19).

The closing section is about the cross. Paul's only boast is in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, because through it the world has been crucified to him and he to the world. The cross ends the old order and begins the new creation. The marks of Jesus on his body (6:17) show that he shares in Christ's sufferings. The 'new creation' echoes the promise of new heavens and a new earth in Isaiah 65:17 and is fulfilled in Christ's resurrection, the first fruits of the new age (1 Corinthians 15:20); here the connection is a theme more than a quotation. In Galatians 5:14 the command to love the neighbour is the law's summary, and Jesus himself taught that the whole law and the prophets hang on love of God and neighbour (Matthew 22:37-40).