Galatians 5:25

THE MESSAGE

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.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit.

Revised Standard Version
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Yf we lyve in the sprete let vs walke in the sprete.

Hebrew Names Version
If we live by the Spirit, let's also walk by the Spirit.

New American Standard Bible
If we live by the Spirit, let's follow the Spirit as well.

New Century Version
We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit.

Update Bible Version
If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk.

Webster's Bible Translation
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

English Standard Version
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

World English Bible
If we live by the Spirit, let's also walk by the Spirit.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Weymouth's New Testament
If we are living by the Spirit's power, let our conduct also be governed by the Spirit's power.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If we lyuen bi spirit, walke we bi spirit;

English Revised Version
If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk.

Berean Standard Bible
Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit.

Contemporary English Version
God's Spirit has given us life, and so we should follow the Spirit.

Amplified Bible
If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit].

American Standard Version
If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk.

Bible in Basic English
If we are living by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us be guided.

Complete Jewish Bible
Since it is through the Spirit that we have Life, let it also be through the Spirit that we order our lives day by day.

Darby Translation
If we live by the Spirit, let us walk also by the Spirit.

International Standard Version
If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.Romans 8:4-5; Galatians 5:16;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
live we therefore in the Spirit,

Murdock Translation
Let us therefore live in the Spirit; and let us press on after the Spirit.

King James Version (1611)
If we liue in the Spirit, let vs also walke in the Spirit.

New Living Translation
Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives.

New Life Bible
If the Holy Spirit is living in us, let us be led by Him in all things.

New Revised Standard
If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Geneva Bible (1587)
If we liue in the Spirit, let vs also walke in the Spirit.

George Lamsa Translation
Let us therefore live in the Spirit, and surrender to the Spirit.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If we live by Spirit, by Spirit, let us also walk.

Douay-Rheims Bible
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Yf we lyue in ye spirite, let vs walke in the spirite.

Good News Translation
The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives.

Christian Standard Bible®
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

King James Version
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Lexham English Bible
If we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit.

Literal Translation
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Young's Literal Translation
if we may live in the Spirit, in the Spirit also we may walk;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf we lyue in the sprete, let vs walke also in the sprete.

Mace New Testament (1729)
if we live by the spirit, let us regulate our actions by the spirit:

New English Translation
If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit.

New King James Version
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Simplified Cowboy Version
Our new life come from the Holy Spirit and so we must give him the reins.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Legacy Standard Bible
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in step with the Spirit.

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

we: John 6:63, Romans 8:2, Romans 8:10, 1 Corinthians 15:45, 2 Corinthians 3:6, 1 Peter 4:6, Revelation 11:11

let: Galatians 5:16, Romans 8:4, Romans 8:5

Reciprocal: Malachi 4:4 - the law Luke 9:46 - General Romans 13:13 - us 2 Corinthians 5:15 - that they Galatians 5:18 - if Galatians 6:16 - walk Ephesians 5:8 - walk

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If we live in the Spirit,.... Or "by the Spirit", as all do that are spiritually alive. Sin has not only brought on men a corporeal death, and made them liable to an eternal one, but has also induced upon them a spiritual or moral death; they are dead in trespasses and sin, nor can they quicken themselves, nor can any creature give them life; not the ministers of the word, nor the angels in heaven, only the blessed Spirit is the spirit of life from Christ; who entering into them, frees them from the law of sin and death, and implants a principle of spiritual life in them, whereby they live a life of faith on Christ, of holiness from him, and communion with him: and this the apostle makes use of, as an argument with believers to walk after the Spirit,

let us also walk in the Spirit: or "by the Spirit"; by his help and assistance, according to the rule of his word, and under his influence and direction as a guide, to which he had before advised in Galatians 5:18.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If we live in the Spirit - See the note at Galatians 5:16. The sense of this verse probably is, “We who are Christians profess to be under the influences of the Holy Spirit. By his influences and agency is our spiritual life. We profess not to be under the dominion of the flesh; not to be controlled by its appetites and desires. Let us then act in this manner, and as if we believed this. Let us yield ourselves to his influences, and show that we are controlled by that Spirit.” It is an earnest exhortation to Christians to yield wholly to the agency of the Holy Spirit on their hearts, and to submit to his guidance; see Romans 8:5, note9, note.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 25. If we live in the Spirit — If we profess to believe a spiritual religion, let us walk in the Spirit-let us show in our lives and conversation that the Spirit of God dwells in us.