Galatians · 26 verses
Galatians 5
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Paul is arguing about circumcision when his rhetoric suddenly takes a sharp, almost anatomical turn: the people agitating the Galatians are invited to finish the job themselves.
The argument turns sharpvv. 1–12
Paul begins with freedom, warning against taking up the yoke of slavery again. Circumcision, in his account, brings the whole law along with it, while faith works through love. The Galatians had been running well, but some persuasion has obstructed them; a little leaven, characteristically, has ambitions for the entire batch. Then, amid the dispute, Paul delivers his startling wish concerning the agitators.
Freedom with teethvv. 13–15
Freedom is not presented as a licence for the flesh but as an opportunity to serve one another in love. The entire law is gathered into one decree, and then the language becomes distinctly less civilised: biting, devouring, and mutual consumption await the quarrelling community. The metaphor has quite literally acquired teeth.
The fruit and the oppositionvv. 16–26
Paul sets the flesh and the Spirit against one another, with the result that human desire becomes an internal tug-of-war. The acts of the flesh arrive in a crowded catalogue, while the Spirit produces one fruit bearing nine qualities: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against this long and orderly harvest, the law has nothing to say. Those belonging to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, and Paul ends by warning against conceit, provocation, and envy.
The text
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Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Gal 5:1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
Gal 5:2Take notice: I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.
Gal 5:3Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
Gal 5:4You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
Gal 5:5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness.
Gal 5:6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. What matters is faith expressing itself through love.
Gal 5:7You were running so well. Who has obstructed you from obeying the truth?
Gal 5:8Such persuasion does not come from the One who calls you.
Gal 5:9A little leaven works through the whole batch of dough.
Gal 5:10I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is troubling you will bear the judgment, whoever he may be.
Gal 5:11Now, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.
Gal 5:12As for those who are agitating you, I wish they would proceed to emasculate themselves!
Gal 5:13For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.
Gal 5:14The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Gal 5:15But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.
Gal 5:16So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Gal 5:17For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.
Gal 5:18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Gal 5:19The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
Gal 5:20idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,
Gal 5:21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Gal 5:23gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Gal 5:24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Gal 5:25Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit.
Gal 5:26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 446 passages were voted onto 26 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 22Colossians 3:12–17Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
- 221 Corinthians 13:4–7Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
- 22John 15:5I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.
- 22James 3:17–18But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.
- 12 Corinthians 3:17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
- 22John 15:2He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.
- 16Galatians 5:24–25Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
- 22Ephesians 5:9for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.
- 1Galatians 5:13For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.
- 11 Peter 2:16Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
- 22Psalms 1:3He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.
- 16Romans 8:12–14Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.
- 22Philippians 4:4–9Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
- 1Romans 6:14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
- 16Galatians 6:8The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
- 22Romans 7:4Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
Onward