Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, September 22nd, 2024
the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Galatians 5:18

This verse is not available in the MSG!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Holy Spirit;   Works;   Thompson Chain Reference - Holy Spirit;   Leadership;   Spirit;   The Topic Concordance - Flesh;   Holy Spirit;   Inheritance;   Kingdom of God;   Law;   Lust;   War/weapons;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Law;   Spirit;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Holy spirit;   Law;   Paul;   Sin;   Trinity;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Baptize, Baptism;   Flesh;   Freedom;   Fruit of the Spirit;   Holy Spirit;   James, Theology of;   Spirit;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Liberty;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Galatians, the Epistle to the;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Concupiscence;   Galatians, Letter to the;   Sex, Biblical Teaching on;   Torah;   Wind;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Law;   Liberty;   Temperance;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Abstinence;   Children of God;   Christian Life;   Galatians Epistle to the;   Holy Spirit;   Law;   Man;   Marriage;   Mortify;   Personality;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Law of Moses;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Flesh;   Galatians, Epistle to the;   Salvation;   Sons of God (New Testament);   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Saul of Tarsus;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for April 22;  

Parallel Translations

New American Standard Bible (1995)
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
Legacy Standard Bible
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
Simplified Cowboy Version
And when you choose to ride with the Holy Ghost, you are under no obligation whatsoever to follow the code of Moses.
Bible in Basic English
But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Darby Translation
but if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under law.
Christian Standard Bible®
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
World English Bible
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Weymouth's New Testament
But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not subject to Law.
King James Version (1611)
But if yee be lead of the spirit, yee are not vnder the Law.
Literal Translation
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under Law.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But and yf ye be led of the sprete, then are ye not vnder the lawe.
Mace New Testament (1729)
but if you are governed by the spirit, you are not subject to the law.
Amplified Bible
But if you are guided and led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the Law.
American Standard Version
But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Revised Standard Version
But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
But and yf ye be ledde of the sprete then are ye not vnder the lawe.
Update Bible Version
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Webster's Bible Translation
But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Young's Literal Translation
and if by the Spirit ye are led, ye are not under law.
New Century Version
But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not under the law.
New English Translation
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Berean Standard Bible
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Contemporary English Version
But if you obey the Spirit, the Law of Moses has no control over you.
Complete Jewish Bible
But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism.
English Standard Version
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not vnder the Lawe.
George Lamsa Translation
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Hebrew Names Version
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
International Standard Version
But if you are being led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.Romans 6:14; 8:2;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
But if by the Spirit you are led, you are not under the law.
Murdock Translation
But if ye are guided by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
New King James Version
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
New Living Translation
But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
New Life Bible
If you let the Holy Spirit lead you, the Law no longer has power over you.
English Revised Version
But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
New Revised Standard
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, if, by Spirit, ye are being led, ye are not under law.
Douay-Rheims Bible
But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.
King James Version
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Lexham English Bible
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
But and yf ye be ledde of the spirite, then are ye not vnder the lawe.
Easy-to-Read Version
But if you let the Spirit lead you, you are not under law.
New American Standard Bible
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
Good News Translation
If the Spirit leads you, then you are not subject to the Law.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
That if ye be led bi spirit, ye ben not vnder the lawe.

Contextual Overview

13It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? 16My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence? 19It 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; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. 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. 22But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified. Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original. 24The Life of Freedom Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ's hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love. You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn't come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. And please don't toss this off as insignificant. It only takes a minute amount of yeast, you know, to permeate an entire loaf of bread. Deep down, the Master has given me confidence that you will not defect. But the one who is upsetting you, whoever he is, will bear the divine judgment. As for the rumor that I continue to preach the ways of circumcision (as I did in those pre-Damascus Road days), that is absurd. Why would I still be persecuted, then? If I were preaching that old message, no one would be offended if I mentioned the Cross now and then—it would be so watered-down it wouldn't matter one way or the other. Why don't these agitators, obsessive as they are about circumcision, go all the way and castrate themselves! It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence? 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; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. 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. But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified. 25Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

if: Galatians 5:16, Galatians 5:25, Galatians 4:6, Psalms 25:4, Psalms 25:5, Psalms 25:8, Psalms 25:9, Psalms 143:8-10, Proverbs 8:20, Isaiah 48:16-18, Ezekiel 36:27, John 16:13, Romans 8:12, Romans 8:14, 2 Timothy 1:7, 1 John 2:20-27

ye are: Galatians 4:5, Romans 6:14, Romans 6:15

Reciprocal: Matthew 11:30 - my yoke Romans 3:19 - what things Romans 3:31 - yea Romans 7:4 - ye also 1 Corinthians 9:20 - are under Galatians 3:23 - under

Cross-References

Genesis 4:17
Cain slept with his wife. She conceived and had Enoch. He then built a city and named it after his son, Enoch. Enoch had Irad, Irad had Mehujael, Mehujael had Methushael, Methushael had Lamech.
Genesis 5:15
When Mahalalel was sixty-five years old, he had Jared. After he had Jared, he lived another 830 years, having more sons and daughters. Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years. And he died.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But if ye be led by the Spirit,.... That is, of God, who is the guide and leader of his people. It is a metaphor taken from the leading of persons that are blind; as such are before conversion, and whom the Spirit of God leads in ways they knew not, and in paths they had not known: or from the leading of children, and teaching them to go; so the Spirit leads regenerate persons, and teaches them to walk by faith in Christ. This act of leading supposes life in the persons led, for dead men cannot be led; the Spirit is first a Spirit of life from Christ before he is a leader; and also it supposes some strength, though a good deal of weakness; were there no spiritual strength derived from Christ, they could not be led; and if there was no weakness, there would be no need of leading; it is an instance of powerful and efficacious grace upon them, yet not contrary to their wills, though they are led, they are not forced; they go freely, being led, as there is good reason for it; for the Spirit of God always leads for their profit and advantage, and for the spiritual delight, pleasure, and comfort of their souls; he leads out of the ways of sin, and so of ruin and destruction, and from Mount Sinai, and all dependence on a legal and moral righteousness; he leads to Christ, to his person, for shelter, safety, and salvation, to his blood, for pardon and cleansing, to his righteousness, for justification, and to his fulness, for every supply of grace; he leads into the presence of God, and to his house and ordinances; he leads into the covenant of grace, to the blessings, promises, and Mediator of it; he leads into all truth as it is in Jesus, in the ways of faith and truth, and in the paths of righteousness and holiness, and always in a right way, though sometimes in a rough one, to the city of their habitation; he leads from one degree of grace to another, and at last to glory: all which he does gradually; he leads by little and little into a man's sinfulness, and to see his interest in Christ, and by degrees into the doctrines of the Gospel, and the everlasting love of the three Persons; and proportionally to the strength he gives, and as they are able to bear: now such persons as these have nothing to fear from the law of God:

ye are not under the law; such are not only delivered from the law in fact, but in their own apprehensions; they have the comfortable knowledge and experience of it; the law is no terrifying law to them; it works no wrath in them; they are delivered from the spirit of bondage to fear, by the Spirit of God, by whom they are led; nor are they under it, nor do they need it as a pressing forcing law to duty; they delight in it, and cheerfully serve it, being constrained by love, and not awed by fear; nor are its accusations and charges regarded, or to be regarded, by such who are led by the Spirit to Christ, the end of the law for righteousness; and they are entirely freed from its curse and condemnation, though they are under it, and desire to be under it, as held forth by Christ the King of saints; and, under the Spirit's influence and guidance, yield a cheerful and evangelical obedience to it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But if ye be led of the Spirit - If you submit to the teachings and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Ye are not under the law - You are under a different dispensation - the dispensation of the Spirit. You are free from the restraints and control of the Mosaic law, and are under the control of the Spirit of God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 18. But, if ye be led of the Spirit — If ye receive again the Gospel and the grace of Christ, and permit yourselves to be influenced by the Holy Spirit whom you are now grieving, ye are not under the law-ye will not feel those evil propensities which now disgrace and torment you; but they must prevail while you are not under the influence of the grace and Spirit of Christ.


 
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