Galatians Chapter 5 – Commentary & Explanation
Sometimes when I read Galatians 5, I almost imagine Paul pacing in a small room, maybe some candle burning low, his hands moving while he talks to the air. This chapter feels like a big deep breath—freedom fills the first half of it, and the second half feels like a warning wrapped in love. You can tell this is not just teaching; this is personal.
And honestly, freedom is such a strange thing. We pray for it, crave it, sing about it… and when God gives it, somehow we get scared of it. We run back to the comfort of rules, like someone walking out of jail but turning around because the prison felt familiar.
Galatians 5 is Paul yelling gently,
“Don’t go back. Please don’t go back.”
Galatians 5:1 — “Stand fast in the liberty… and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”
This is one of those verses that tastes like fresh air.
Paul says stand fast — like a soldier holding ground, like someone gripping a rope in a storm. Freedom isn’t fragile, but our confidence in it sometimes is.
“Yoke of bondage” sounds dramatic, but really it’s anything that pulls your heart away from grace and back into fear. For the Galatians it was the law. For us it might be:
Paul says don’t get tangled again.
Because once you’ve tasted freedom, chains feel heavier.
Galatians 5:2–3 — “If you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.”
Not because circumcision is bad.
But because trusting it is.
Paul basically says,
“If you trust the law to save you, you’re stepping out of grace.”
It’s like switching from an airplane to a bicycle in mid-flight.
You can’t mix “Jesus alone” with “my effort + Jesus.”
It breaks the whole thing.
This hits deep because sometimes we don’t say it out loud, but we live as if salvation came by:
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how well I behaved today
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how long I prayed
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how much I tithed
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how spiritual I felt
But grace doesn’t run on our performance.
It runs on Christ.
And Christ alone.
Galatians 5:4 — “You have fallen from grace.”
This doesn’t mean they lost salvation.
It means they stepped off the path of trusting grace and stepped onto the path of self-effort.
Falling from grace isn’t falling into sin.
It’s falling into self-righteousness.
Some of the “nicest,” “cleanest,” most religious people have actually fallen from grace… while some of the most broken, trembling believers are holding onto it with both hands.
Strange, right?
Galatians 5:5 — “We through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.”
There’s a quiet patience in this line.
We wait.
We hope.
We trust.
Not in ourselves, but in the Spirit’s work in us. It’s like watching a tree slowly grow leaves—nothing dramatic, no fireworks, just gentle steady transformation.
Some days you don’t even see the progress.
But God does.
Galatians 5:6 — “Faith working through love.”
If the whole Christian life could be poured into three words, maybe it would be these:
faith
working
through love
Not through fear.
Not through pressure.
Not through guilt.
Love.
Every act of obedience… every prayer… every kindness… every sacrifice… if it isn’t rooted in love, it turns into religion instead of relationship.
Sometimes I forget this and start serving God like a tired employee instead of a beloved child. And then verses like this shake something awake in me.
Galatians 5:7 — “You ran well. Who hindered you?”
You can almost hear the disappointment in Paul’s voice.
“You were doing so good… who tripped you? Who confused you?”
It’s sad, because most people don’t fall away from faith because of sin… they fall because of bad teaching, discouragement, or someone poisoned their joy.
We all have “hinderers” at times:
Paul says:
“You were running well. Don’t let anyone steal your pace.”
Galatians 5:8 — “This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.”
Paul is telling them the pressure they feel—the guilt, the confusion—it’s not from God.
God doesn’t manipulate.
He doesn’t twist arms.
He doesn’t guilt-trip His children.
If something makes you feel unworthy, unloved, or always failing… that’s not the voice of the Father. That’s something else.
Galatians 5:9 — “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”
A tiny bit of legalism…
a tiny bit of pride…
a tiny bit of “my effort saves me”…
and suddenly grace gets buried under rules.
It happens so quietly you don’t even notice until one day you realize you’re serving out of fear again.
Paul’s warning is gentle but strong:
Don’t let even a small piece of false teaching stay.
Galatians 5:10 — “He who troubles you shall bear his judgment.”
Paul is protective here.
Like a parent saying, “Whoever lied to you… they’ll answer to God for it.”
God is very serious about anyone who harms the faith of His children. Even today.
Galatians 5:11 — “If I still preach circumcision, why am I persecuted?”
Paul’s saying,
“If I were preaching what they preach, nobody would hate me.”
Legalism is popular.
Grace is offensive.
Because grace says:
People don’t like that.
Grace strips away human pride… and people don’t take kindly to losing their favorite idol.
Galatians 5:12 — “I wish those who trouble you would cut themselves off!”
One of Paul’s strongest sentences ever.
He’s not being cruel—he’s being protective.
When someone is poisoning your spiritual life, sometimes you have to be firm, not polite.
Galatians 5:13 — “Do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh…”
Freedom is not the same as chaos.
Grace is not permission to self-destruct.
Liberty isn’t an excuse to live recklessly.
Paul says:
“You’re free — but use that freedom to love, not to hurt yourself.”
It’s like being given a car.
Freedom means you can drive anywhere.
But you still shouldn’t crash into things on purpose.
Galatians 5:14 — “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
This sums up the entire law.
Every commandment…
Every ritual…
Every instruction…
they all point to one thing:
Love.
Sometimes we complicate Christianity so much.
But at the core, God wants us to love others with the same gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and compassion we wish people would show us.
Galatians 5:15 — “If you bite and devour one another, beware…”
Legalism always turns Christians into critics.
They start comparing, accusing, competing, judging.
Grace does the opposite.
Grace softens people.
Paul is saying:
“If you keep attacking each other, you’ll destroy each other.”
And sadly, we’ve seen that happen in churches many times.
Galatians 5:16 — “Walk in the Spirit…”
This is one of the most important verses in the entire Bible.
Walk in the Spirit.
Not run.
Not sprint.
Walk.
Slow, steady, daily steps with God.
Walking in the Spirit doesn’t mean glowing in the dark, feeling spiritual 24/7, or floating on clouds. It means choosing God moment by moment, listening inwardly, leaning on Him when you’re weak.
Galatians 5:17 — “The flesh lusts against the Spirit…”
This verse is honest.
There’s a war inside you.
Two desires pulling opposite ways.
The flesh wants comfort, pride, control, pleasure without responsibility.
The Spirit wants holiness, love, truth, freedom.
Paul says don’t be shocked by the struggle.
The struggle proves you belong to God.
Dead hearts don’t wrestle.
Living hearts do.
Galatians 5:18 — “You are not under the law.”
Simple, beautiful, powerful.
Not under guilt.
Not under pressure.
Not under performance.
You’re under grace.
Galatians 5:19–21 — The Works of the Flesh
Paul lists them, and honestly the list feels like scrolling through human history:
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adultery
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impurity
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jealousy
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anger
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selfishness
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envy
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drunkenness
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etc.
This isn’t just a list to scare us.
It’s a mirror.
Whenever we live disconnected from the Spirit, these things naturally grow.
You don’t have to water weeds for them to show up.
Galatians 5:22–23 — The Fruit of the Spirit
Ah… this part feels like sunlight.
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-control
Notice Paul says fruit—not fruits.
Because the Spirit grows all of them together, like branches on the same tree.
And fruit doesn’t grow by effort.
It grows by staying connected to the vine.
You can’t force love.
You can’t manufacture peace.
You can’t glue plastic fruit to a tree and call it growth.
The Spirit grows these things slowly, quietly, naturally… often without us noticing.
Galatians 5:24 — “Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh…”
This doesn’t mean you’ll never struggle again.
It means you’ve chosen sides.
You’re not serving the flesh anymore.
It’s been dethroned.
It may shout at you, but it doesn’t own you.
Galatians 5:25 — “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Paul repeats himself softly.
Not because he forgot… but because we do.
Walk in the Spirit.
Not sprint.
Not leap.
Not fly.
Walk.
Small steps.
Daily choices.
Gentle trust.
Galatians 5:26 — “Let us not become conceited…”
Pride is always waiting in the background.
Even spiritual pride.
Especially spiritual pride.
Paul ends the chapter reminding us to stay soft, humble, and gentle with one another.
Grace makes people kind.
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