The Gospel in the Daily Life

5 It is for freedom that Christ set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not again be held under the yoke of slavery.

2 Understand that I, Paul, myself tell you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will avail you nothing. 3 I again declare to everyone who receives circumcision, that he binds himself to obey the whole Law. 4 You have severed yourselves from Christ – you who are seeking to be pronounced righteous through Law; you have fallen away from love. 5 For we, by the help of the Spirit, are eagerly waiting for the fulfilment of our hope – that we may be pronounced righteous as the result of faith. 6 If we are in union with Christ Jesus, neither is circumcision nor the omission of it anything, but faith, working through love, is everything. 7 You were once making good progress! Who has hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 The persuasion brought to bear on you does not come from him who calls you. 9 A little yeast leavens all the dough. 10 I, through my union with the Lord, am persuaded that you will learn to think with me. But the man who is disturbing your minds will have to bear his punishment, whoever he may be. 11 If I, friends, am still proclaiming circumcision, why am I still persecuted? It seems that the cross has ceased to be an obstacle! 12 I could even wish that the people who are unsettling you would go further still and mutilate themselves.

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13 Remember, friends, to you the call came to give you freedom. Only, do not make your freedom an opportunity for self-indulgence but serve one another in a loving spirit. 14 Indeed, the whole Law has been summed up in this one precept –

“You must love your neighbour as you love yourself.”

15 But, if you are continually wounding and preying on one another, take care that you are not destroyed by one another.

16 This is what I have to say – Let your steps be guided by the Spirit, and then you will never gratify the cravings of your earthly nature. 17 For these cravings of our earthly nature conflict with the Spirit, and the Spirit with our earthly nature – they are two contrary principles – so that you cannot do what you wish. 18 But, if you follow the guidance of the Spirit, you are not subject to Law. 19 The sins of our earthly nature are unmistakable. They are sins like these – sexual immorality, impurity, indecency, 20 idolatry, sorcery, quarrels, strife, jealousy, outbursts of passion, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 feelings of envy, drunkenness, revelry, and the like. And I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who indulge in such things will have no place in the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit produced by the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindliness, generosity, trustfulness, gentleness, self-control. 23 Against such things there is no law! 24 And those who belong to Jesus, the Christ, have already crucified their earthly nature, with its passions and its cravings.

25 Since our life is due to the Spirit, let us rule our conduct also by the Spirit. 26 Do not let us grow vain, and provoke or envy one another. 6 My friends, even if someone should be caught committing a sin, you who are spiritually minded should, in a gentle spirit, help them to recover themselves, taking care that you yourselves are not tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so carry out the Law of the Christ. 3 If a person imagines themselves to be somebody, when they are really nobody, they deceive themselves. 4 Let everyone test their own work, and then their cause for satisfaction will be in themselves and not in a comparison with their neighbour; 5 for everyone must bear their own load. 6 The person, however, who is being instructed in the message ought always to share their blessings with their teacher.

7 Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. What a person sows that they will reap. 8 For the person who sows the field of their earthly nature will from that earthly nature reap corruption; while the one who sows the field of the spirit will from that spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let us never tire of doing right, for at the proper season we will reap our harvest, if we do not grow weary. 10 Therefore, I say, as the opportunity occurs, let us treat everyone with kindness, and especially members of the household of the faith.