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SEPTEMBER 27
5 He has given food to those who fear
Him;
He will ever be mindful of His
covenant. 5:6 neither circumcision nor uncircumci-
He has declared to His people the sion avails anything. Nothing done or not
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power of His works, done in the flesh, even religious ceremony,
In giving them the heritage of the makes any difference in one’s relationship to
nations. God.What is external is immaterial and worth-
less, unless it reflects genuine internal righ-
Proverbs 26:10
teousness (Rom. 2:25–29). faith working
The great God who formed everything
10 through love. Saving faith proves its genuine
Gives the fool his hire and the character by works of love. The one who lives
transgressor his wages. by faith is internally motivated by love for God
and Christ (Matt. 22:37–40), which supernatu-
Galatians 5:1–26 rally issues forth in reverent worship, genuine
obedience, and self-sacrificing love for others.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which
5 Christ has made us free, and do not be
entangled again with a yoke of bondage. In- he who troubles you shall bear his judgment,
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deed I, Paul, say to you that if you become
whoever he is.
11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumci-
sion, why do I still suffer persecution? Then
the offense of the cross has ceased. I could
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5:1 Stand fast. Stay where you are, Paul wish that those who trouble you would even
asserts, because of the benefit of being free cut themselves off!
from the law and the flesh as a way of salva- 13 For you, brethren, have been called to lib-
tion and the fullness of blessing by grace.free. erty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity
Deliverance from the curse that the law pro-
nounces on the sinner who has been striving for the flesh, but through love serve one
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unsuccessfully to achieve his own righteous- another. For all the law is fulfilled in one
ness (3:13,22–26; 4:1–7), but who has now word, even in this: “You shall love your neigh-
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embraced Christ and the salvation granted to bor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour
him by grace. entangled again. Better trans- one another, beware lest you be consumed by
lated “to be burdened by,” “to be oppressed one another!
by,” or “to be subject to,” because of its con- 16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall
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nection with a yoke.yoke of bondage.“Yoke” not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh
refers to the apparatus used to control a lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
domesticated animal.The Jews referred to the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so
“yoke of the law”as a good thing, the essence that you do not do the things that you wish.
of true religion. Paul argued that for those 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not
who pursued it as a way of salvation, the law under the law.
was a yoke of slavery. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident,
which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, con-
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circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. tentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish
3 And I testify again to every man who becomes ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, mur-
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circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the ders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of
whole law. You have become estranged from which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told
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Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you in time past, that those who practice such
you have fallen from grace. For we through things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
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the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righ- 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
teousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,
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circumcision nor uncircumcision avails any- faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against
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thing, but faith working through love. such there is no law. And those who are
7 Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its pas-
You ran well. Who hindered you from obey-
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ing the truth? This persuasion does not come sions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let
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from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become
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the whole lump. I have confidence in you, in conceited, provoking one another, envying
the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but one another.
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