Christ has set believers free, and therefore they must stand firm and not submit again to slavery.
Galatians 5:1-12
1 Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
To receive circumcision as necessary for righteousness is to obligate oneself to the whole law, be severed from Christ as one's saving ground, and fall from grace. In Christ, faith working through love is what counts.
2 Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing.
3 Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4 You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.
5 For we, through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness.
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
Paul exposes the agitators as a corrupting influence whose persuasion does not come from God and whose disturbance of the churches will bring judgment.
7 You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth?
8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you.
9 A little yeast grows through the whole lump.
10 I have confidence toward you in the Lord that you will think no other way. But he who troubles you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.
11 But I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been removed.
12 I wish that those who disturb you would cut themselves off.
Freedom is not permission for the flesh but a call to humble service in love, fulfilling the law's command to love one's neighbor.
Galatians 5:13-15
13 For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don’t consume one another.
The Spirit and the flesh stand opposed, and believers must walk by the Spirit rather than gratify fleshly desires.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Paul names visible expressions of the flesh and warns that those characterized by such practices will not inherit the kingdom of God.
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.
The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh and must live in line with the Spirit, rejecting conceit, provocation, and envy.
24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.
26 Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.