5:1 The Anointed has set us free, so stand firm and do not strap yourselves to slavery again.

5:2 Now look! I, Paul, am telling you that if allow yourselves to be circumcised, then the Anointed will be of no use to you.

5:3 I solemnly testify to you that everyone who does this is obligated to perform the whole Law perfectly.

5:4 You who think justification comes from the Law have been “cut away” from the Anointed and “fallen off” of God’s favor!

5:5 We who are of the Spirit hope in faith for the justice we await.

5:6 For in Anointed Jesus neither circumcision nor un-circumcision matters, but only faith operating through love.

5:7 You were running a great race; who cut in on you and pushed you away from the truth?

5:8 This gullibility certainly doesn’t come from the One who called you!

5:9 “It only takes a little yeast to make the whole loaf rise.”

5:10 But I have confidence in you from the Master, that you will get back on course. Yet the one who is disturbing you will face judgment, whoever it may be.

5:11 Sisters and brothers, if I am still pushing circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? That would only disable the “trap” of the cross.

5:12 If only those who are disturbing you would keep cutting until the whole thing is gone!

5:13 You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters— not freedom to indulge the flesh but to enslave yourselves to each other out of love.

5:14 For the entire Law is encapsulated in this one sentence: “You must love others as you love yourself.”

5:15 But if you keep backbiting each other, beware that you don’t consume each other!

5:16 So I say, keep in step with the Spirit and do not give in to the cravings of the flesh.

5:17 For flesh and Spirit continually fight against each other and get in the way of your doing what you want.

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

5:19 Now what the flesh does is obvious: promiscuity, impurity, vice,

5:20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, rivalry, tension, fits of rage, factions, disputes, divisions,

5:21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties and so on. I warned you about all that, just as I warned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

5:22 But the evidence of the Spirit is love, happiness, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustworthiness,

5:23 gentleness, and self-control; there is no law against any of that.

5:24 Now those of us who are united with Anointed Jesus have crucified the flesh with its feelings and desires.

5:25 If we are living in the Spirit let us keep in step with the Spirit.

5:26 Then we will not become conceited, challenging and envying each other.