Galatians 5:16

5:16 But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.

Galatians 5:18

5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Galatians 5:22-25

5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 5:23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with 10  the Spirit.


tn Grk “walk” (a common NT idiom for how one conducts one’s life or how one behaves).

tn On the term “flesh” (once in this verse and twice in v. 17) see the note on the same word in Gal 5:13.

tn That is, the fruit the Spirit produces.

sn Another way to punctuate this is “love” followed by a colon (love: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). It is thus possible to read the eight characteristics following “love” as defining love.

tn Or “reliability”; see BDAG 818 s.v. πίστις 1.a.

tn “And” is supplied here as a matter of English style, which normally inserts “and” between the last two elements of a list or series.

tc ‡ Some mss (א A B C P Ψ 01221 0278 33 1175 1739 pc co) read “Christ Jesus” here, while many significant ones (Ì46 D F G 0122*,2 latt sy), as well as the Byzantine text, lack “Jesus.” The Byzantine text is especially not prone to omit the name “Jesus”; that it does so here argues for the authenticity of the shorter reading (for similar instances of probably authentic Byzantine shorter readings, see Matt 24:36 and Phil 1:14; cf. also W.-H. J. Wu, “A Systematic Analysis of the Shorter Readings in the Byzantine Text of the Synoptic Gospels” [Ph.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 2002]). On the strength of the alignment of Ì46 with the Western and Byzantine texttypes, the shorter reading is preferred. NA27 includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

tn See the note on the word “flesh” in Gal 5:13.

tn The Greek term παθήμασιν (paqhmasin, translated “passions”) refers to strong physical desires, especially of a sexual nature (L&N 25.30).

10 tn Or “let us also follow,” “let us also walk by.”