The 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.
Parallel Translations
Easy-to-Read Version
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their sinful self. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do.
Revised Standard Version
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
They ye are Christis have crucified the flesshe with the appetites and lustes
Hebrew Names Version
Those who belong to Messiah have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
New American Standard Bible
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
New Century Version
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their own sinful selves. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do.
Update Bible Version
And those that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the desires thereof.
Webster's Bible Translation
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts.
English Standard Version
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
World English Bible
Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And they that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh with its affections and desires.
Weymouth's New Testament
Against such things as these there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their lower nature with its passions and appetites.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And they that ben of Crist, han crucified her fleisch with vices and coueytyngis.
English Revised Version
And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof.
Berean Standard Bible
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Contemporary English Version
And because we belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed our selfish feelings and desires.
Amplified Bible
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature together with its passions and appetites.
American Standard Version
And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof.
Bible in Basic English
And those who are Christ's have put to death on the cross the flesh with its passions and its evil desires.
Complete Jewish Bible
Moreover, those who belong to the Messiah Yeshua have put their old nature to death on the stake, along with its passions and desires.
Darby Translation
But they that [are] of the Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts.
International Standard Version Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.Romans 6:6;
13:14;
Galatians 2:20;
1 Peter 2:11;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
But they who are of the Meshiha have crucified their flesh, with all its passions and its lusts:
Murdock Translation
And they who are of the Messiah, have crucified their flesh, with all its passions and its cravings.
King James Version (1611)
And they that are Christs, haue crucified the flesh with the affections and lustes.
New Living Translation
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
New Life Bible
Those of us who belong to Christ have nailed our sinful old selves on His cross. Our sinful desires are now dead.
New Revised Standard
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For they that are Christes, haue crucified the flesh with the affections and the lustes.
George Lamsa Translation
And those who belong to Christ have controlled their weaknesses and passions.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, they who are of Christ Jesus, have crucified, the flesh, with its susceptibilities and covetings.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And they that are Christ’s have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
They truely that are Christes, haue crucified the flesshe, with the affections and lustes.
Good News Translation
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires.
Christian Standard Bible®
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
King James Version
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Lexham English Bible
Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh together with its feelings and its desires.
Literal Translation
But the ones belonging to Christ crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
Young's Literal Translation
and those who are Christ's, the flesh did crucify with the affections, and the desires;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But they that are Christes, haue crucified their flesh, with the lustes and desyres.
Mace New Testament (1729)
now they who belong to Christ, have crucified the animal nature with the affections and passions thereof.
New English Translation
Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
New King James Version
And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Simplified Cowboy Version
And those who ride for Christ have nailed their sinful human natures to the cross. All the dirty passions and nasty desires are dead.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Legacy Standard Bible
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
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
they: Galatians 3:29, Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 3:23, 1 Corinthians 15:23, 2 Corinthians 10:7
crucified: Galatians 5:16-18, Galatians 5:20, Galatians 6:14, Romans 6:6, Romans 8:13, Romans 13:14, 1 Peter 2:11
affections: or, passions
Reciprocal: Leviticus 7:5 - General Numbers 4:23 - to perform the service Malachi 3:17 - they shall Malachi 4:4 - the law Matthew 5:29 - pluck Matthew 7:13 - at Matthew 26:41 - the spirit Mark 8:34 - take Mark 9:41 - because Mark 9:43 - if John 3:6 - born of the flesh Romans 6:12 - in the lusts Romans 7:5 - in the flesh Romans 7:18 - in my Galatians 2:20 - crucified Colossians 3:5 - Mortify Titus 2:12 - denying 1 Peter 4:1 - for 1 John 2:16 - the lust of the flesh
Cross-References
Genesis 5:6When Seth was 105 years old, he had Enosh. After Seth had Enosh, he lived another 807 years, having more sons and daughters. Seth lived a total of 912 years. And he died.
Genesis 42:36 Their father said to them, "You're taking everything I've got! Joseph's gone, Simeon's gone, and now you want to take Benjamin. If you have your way, I'll be left with nothing."
2 Kings 2:1Just before God took Elijah to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on a walk out of Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here. God has sent me on an errand to Bethel." Elisha said, "Not on your life! I'm not letting you out of my sight!" So they both went to Bethel.
Jeremiah 31:15Again, God 's Message: "Listen to this! Laments coming out of Ramah, wild and bitter weeping. It's Rachel weeping for her children, Rachel refusing all solace. Her children are gone, gone—long gone into exile." But God says, "Stop your incessant weeping, hold back your tears. Collect wages from your grief work." God 's Decree. "They'll be coming back home! There's hope for your children." God 's Decree.
Luke 23:43 He said, "Don't worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise."
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And they that are Christ's,.... Not all as yet that are secretly so, who are chosen in him, and by him, are given by the Father to him in covenant, and whom he has purchased by his blood, and considers as his people, his sheep, and his children, though as yet they are not called by his grace; of these, as yet, what follows cannot be said, and therefore must mean such as are openly Christ's, whom he has laid hold on as his own in the effectual calling, who have his Spirit as a spirit of regeneration and sanctification, who have truly believed in Christ, and have given up themselves unto him.
Have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts: by the flesh is meant, not the natural body to be macerated and afflicted with fastings, watchings, c. but the corruption of nature, the old man and carnal heart. The Vulgate Latin version reads, "their own flesh" and so do the Syriac and Ethiopic versions; their concern lying with their own, and not with the corruptions, affections, and lusts of others. By "the affections and lusts" are intended, not the natural affections and passions of the soul, and the desires of it; but its vile and inordinate affections, its corrupt inclinations, evil desires, and deceitful lusts; all which are "crucified" first "with Christ", as the Arabic version reads; see Romans 6:6 and which are so abolished, done away, and destroyed, by the sacrifice of Christ, that the damning power of them over his people is entirely gone. And in consequence of this crucifixion of the body of sin, with Christ upon the cross, when he finished and made an end of it, sin, with its passions and lusts, is crucified by the Spirit of God in regeneration and sanctification; so that it loses its governing power, and has not the dominion it had before: not but that the flesh, or corrupt nature, with its evil affections, and carnal lusts, are still in being, and are alive; as a person fastened to a cross may be alive, though he cannot act and move as before, being under restraints, so the old man, though crucified, and under the restraints of mighty grace, and cannot reign and govern as before, yet is alive, and acts, and operates, and oftentimes has great sway and influence; but whereas he is deprived of his reigning power, he is said to be crucified: and though this act is ascribed to them that are Christ's, yet not as done by them in their own strength, who are not able to grapple with one corruption, but as under the influence of the grace of Christ, and through the power of his Spirit; see Romans 8:13.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
And they that are Christâs - All who are true Christians.
Have crucified the flesh - The corrupt passions of the soul have been put to death; that is, destroyed. They are as though they were dead, and have no power over us; see the note at Galatians 2:20.
With the affections - Margin, âPassions.â All corrupt desires.
And lusts - See the note at Romans 1:24.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 24. And they that are Christ's — All genuine Christians have crucified the flesh-are so far from obeying its dictates and acting under its influence, that they have crucified their sensual appetites; they have nailed them to the cross of Christ, where they have expired with him; hence, says St. Paul, Romans 6:6, our old man-the flesh, with its affections and lusts, is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. By which we see that God has fully designed to save all who believe in Christ from all sin, whether outward or inward, with all the affections, ÏαθημαÏι, irregular passions, and lusts, εÏιθÏ
μιαιÏ, disorderly wishes and desires. All that a man may feel contrary to love and purity; and all that he may desire contrary to moderation and that self-denial peculiar to the Christian character.