Freedom in Christ
1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 "A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough." 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. 11 Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
Life by the Spirit
16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
I like it when Paul asks who cut in on you in verse 7. I think this applies to us when we are being pulled away from God's will for our lives. If you find yourself with a sour attitude about your church, or feel lethargic about even going and serving then you may need to ask yourself "who cut in on me?"
Paul talks about the Spirit in the last part of this passage. If you have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior then you were filled with the Holy Spirit upon that conversion. If you truly have the Spirit within you then it should bother you when you give into to things listed in verses 19-21: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies. If you are able to participate in some of these without feeling Spiritual pains then maybe you have yet to yield your life to God or are as far away from his will as you can be and are ignoring the Spirit.
Paul does finish up by saying what your life should be filled with: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
I don't think you should make a T-chart and be happy if you have a few more of the good things than the bad things. Your T-chart should be dominated by the good things with only a trace of the bad things.
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2 comments:
Have had a couple busy days and again I skip reading the bible when that should be the first thing.
I liked Verse 7 as well. We know God is not leading us astray.
Verse 19-21 - Back when I was in college I was not really following God and doing some things that I no longer do. And I remember kind of in the back of my mind knowing some things I was doing just did not feel right, like using bad language and drinking. Finally, I got turned about and focused back on him. But I guess it was the Holy Spirit talking to me all that time.
Jon, I think the Holy Spirit was talking to you and we are more in tuned with the Spirit the closer we are walking in God's will. The farther away we are, the fainter the signal to get back on track. The farther away the easier it is for us to justify too!
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