Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Galatians
Chapter 5: The Fruit of the Spirit
Galatians 5 turns from doctrine to life, from freedom to how the free should live. 'Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.' To seek justification by the law is to fall 'from grace,' for 'in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing... but faith which worketh by love.' Christian freedom is not license: 'use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another,' for 'all the law is fulfilled in one word... Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' The key to holy living is the Spirit: 'Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.' Paul contrasts 'the works of the flesh' with 'the fruit of the Spirit... love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.' 'They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh,' so 'if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.' The chapter shows us freedom in Christ, love as the law's fulfillment, and the Spirit-filled life that bears His fruit.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Galatians chapter 5. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Greek words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Here Paul calls the church to stand fast in liberty, to serve one another in love, and to walk in the Spirit so as to bear His fruit rather than the works of the flesh. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
Stand Fast in Liberty
Do not go back to the yoke of bondage under the law.
Faith Working by Love
Love serves others and fulfills the whole law.
Walk in the Spirit
Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the flesh.
Love, Joy, Peace
The Spirit bears fruit the flesh can never produce.
Faith Which Worketh by Love (Galatians 5:1-15)
Stand fast in the liberty Christ won; do not seek justification by law, but let faith work through love in serving one another.
By Love Serve One Another
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off which trouble you. For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another."
Word Study
"worketh," Greek energeo (ἐνεργέω). The word means to be at work, to be active and effective, to energize; from it comes our word energy. "In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." Saving faith is not a dead, idle thing; it is faith that is at work, and the channel through which it works is love. Faith and love are not rivals; true faith energizes into love, showing itself in deeds of love toward God and neighbor. This is Paul's answer to two errors at once: against the legalist, he says that what matters is not the outward mark of circumcision but faith; against anyone who would use grace as an excuse for idleness or sin, he says that real faith "worketh by love." So the Christian life is neither law-keeping to earn salvation nor a passive faith that does nothing, but a living faith that is active in love. The same faith that receives Christ freely then works through love to serve others. Where faith is genuine, it is energeo, at work, and its work is love.
Explanation
The letter's hinge: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." To accept circumcision as necessary is to make Christ "profit you nothing" and to become "a debtor to do the whole law" — those who seek justification by law "are fallen from grace." What counts is "faith which worketh by love." Yet freedom is not license: "use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another," for "all the law is fulfilled in one word... Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
Gospel Focus
Paul sounds the keynote of the chapter: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Christ won our freedom; to submit to the law for justification is to put the yoke back on. And Paul is blunt about the stakes: "if ye be circumcised", that is, to be justified by it, "Christ shall profit you nothing," for such a person becomes "a debtor to do the whole law," and "ye are fallen from grace." You cannot mix law and grace as grounds of acceptance; to add law is to lose Christ. Instead, "we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." Then Paul states the great principle: "in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." Outward marks and rituals count for nothing; what counts is a living faith that works through love. The Galatians "did run well," but someone "did hinder" them; that persuasion did not come from God, and "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump," a small error spreads and corrupts. Paul is confident they will return to the truth, and warns that "he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment." Then he guards against the opposite abuse of freedom: "ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." Christian freedom is not license to sin but freedom to love and serve. For "all the law is fulfilled in one word... Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Love does what the law aimed at; the one who loves fulfills the law's whole intent. So Paul warns against the opposite, the biting and devouring of a church at war with itself. Freedom in Christ is real, but it is freedom to love, not to indulge the flesh; and love, springing from living faith, fulfills the whole law.
Walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26)
The flesh and the Spirit are at war; but those who walk in the Spirit bear His fruit and do not fulfill the works of the flesh.
The Fruit of the Spirit
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another."
Word Study
"fruit," Greek karpos (καρπός). The word means fruit, the produce of a living plant, that which grows naturally from within. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Notice that Paul speaks of the "works" of the flesh but the "fruit" of the Spirit. Works are things we manufacture by effort; fruit is what grows organically from a living source. The graces of the Christian character are not achievements we produce by striving, but fruit the Holy Spirit grows in a life yielded to Him. And it is "fruit," singular, a single cluster of Christlike character, not a menu from which we pick; where the Spirit truly works, all these graces grow together. Notice too that the fruit begins with "love," the very thing Paul said fulfills the law, and issues in joy, peace, and the rest, ending in "temperance," self-control. "Against such there is no law," for no law needs to restrain love, joy, and peace. The Christian life, then, is not law-keeping by the flesh but fruit-bearing by the Spirit: we walk in Him, and He grows in us the character of Christ.
Explanation
Paul sets the two powers against each other: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh," for "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh." He lists the ugly "works of the flesh" — from adultery to envyings and drunkenness — warning that those who practice them "shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Against them stands the single, ninefold "fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." And the decisive fact: "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh." The Spirit-led life bears this fruit as naturally as a good tree.
Gospel Focus
Now Paul gives the secret of victory over sin: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." The answer to the flesh is not the law but the Spirit; a life lived in step with the Spirit will not gratify the cravings of the flesh. For a war is on: "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other." Every believer feels this conflict between the old nature and the new life of the Spirit. But "if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law", the Spirit-led life rises above what the law could only command. Paul lists "the works of the flesh", sexual sins, idolatry and witchcraft, and a striking cluster of relational sins ("hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings"), along with drunkenness and revelling. These are what the flesh produces, and he warns solemnly that "they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God", a life given over to these has no part in God's kingdom. Against this dark catalog Paul sets "the fruit of the Spirit": "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." This is the character of Christ Himself, grown in the believer by the Spirit, not manufactured by effort but produced by the indwelling Spirit in a yielded life. "Against such there is no law", no rule is needed to restrain such graces. And Paul grounds it in the cross: "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." In coming to Christ we reckon the old life crucified; the flesh has been put to death in principle, and we live now by the Spirit. So the exhortation follows: "if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." We received life by the Spirit; let us also order our daily steps by Him, keeping in step with Him moment by moment. And such a walk leaves no room for "vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another." The Spirit-filled life is the answer both to the legalism that would enslave and to the flesh that would corrupt: not law-keeping and not license, but walking in the Spirit, who bears in us the fruit of the very character of Christ.
Chapter 5 in Review
Galatians 5 calls the free to live in freedom by the Spirit. "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free," for to seek justification by the law is to fall "from grace," since "in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing... but faith which worketh by love." Freedom is not license: "use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another," for the whole law is fulfilled in "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The key to holy living is the Spirit: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Against "the works of the flesh," Paul sets "the fruit of the Spirit... love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance," and grounds it in the cross: "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh." So "if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
For the Apostolic reader this chapter answers how the justified are to live. The gospel frees us not to sin but to love; real faith is never idle but "worketh by love," and love fulfills all the law aims at. The power for holy living is not the law, which could only command, but the indwelling Spirit, who wars against the flesh and, in a yielded life, bears the fruit of Christ's own character. Note the difference between "works" and "fruit": we do not manufacture holiness by striving, but bear it as fruit grown by the Spirit within. And it rests on the cross: those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh, reckoning the old life dead, and now walk by the Spirit who gave them life. So do not go back to the yoke of law, and do not use freedom as a cloak for the flesh; serve one another in love, keep in step with the Spirit, and let Him bear in you the fruit of love, joy, peace, and all the graces of Christ.
- "Stand fast... in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free" (5:1).
- To be justified by law is to fall "from grace" (5:4).
- What avails is "faith which worketh by love" (5:6).
- The whole law is fulfilled in loving your neighbor (5:14).
- "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh" (5:16).
- "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (5:22-23).
Questions for Reflection
- Are you standing fast in the liberty Christ won, or slipping back toward the yoke of law?
- Does your faith "work by love," serving others?
- What does it look like, practically, to "walk in the Spirit" day by day?
- Is the fruit of the Spirit growing in you, or are the works of the flesh at work?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. Stand fast in liberty; falling from grace: Galatians 5:1-6; John 8:36; Acts 15:10-11; Galatians 2:21; Romans 11:6. Faith working by love; love fulfilling the law: Galatians 5:6, 13-14; James 2:17-18; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:8-10; John 13:34-35. Walk in the Spirit; the flesh against the Spirit: Galatians 5:16-18; Romans 8:4-13; 1 Peter 2:11. The works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit: Galatians 5:19-26; Ephesians 5:9; Colossians 3:5-14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Romans 6:6. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- Stand fast in liberty; faith which worketh by love: Galatians 5:1-15; Galatians 2:21; Romans 13:8-10.
- Walk in the Spirit versus the works of the flesh: Galatians 5:16-21; Romans 8:4-13.
- The fruit of the Spirit; crucified the flesh: Galatians 5:22-26; Colossians 3:5-14; Romans 6:6.