'Ga 5:13-26

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True freedom; true Christianity (Ga 5:13-26)

Christian freedom does not mean that believers may do as they like. On the contrary, they must think of others and act to please them. This is what the law commands, but those who want to put themselves under the law cannot do it. Instead they are unkind and cruel to each other. The goal that the law aims at is not reached by trying to keep the law, but by acting with true Christian liberty (Ga 5:13-15).

Sooner or later Christians find that they do not always do the good that their consciences tell them to do, because the sinful human nature fights against God’s Spirit within them. The way they triumph over these wrong desires is not by putting themselves under the law, but by allowing God’s Spirit to direct their lives (Ga 5:16-18).

Even if people put themselves under the law, rebellious human nature produces only those evils that the law forbids and that exclude people from God’s kingdom (Ga 5:19-21).

If, on the other hand, Christians allow God’s Spirit to control them, their lives become full of the most pleasing virtues - the opposite of those things that the law forbids (Ga 5:22-23).

Their lives should demonstrate the truth that their sinful nature has been crucified with Christ and has no further power over them. They are now controlled by God’s Spirit (Ga 5:24-26).