Galatians 5:13

Practice Love

5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; ¹  only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, ²  but through love serve one another. ³ 

Galatians 6:4

6:4 Let each one examine ⁴  his own work. Then he can take pride ⁵  in himself and not compare himself with ⁶  someone else.

Galatians 6:12

6:12 Those who want to make a good showing in external matters ⁷  are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do so ⁸  only to avoid being persecuted ⁹  for the cross of Christ.

[5:13]  ¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

[5:13]  ² tn Grk “as an opportunity for the flesh”; BDAG 915 s.v. σάρξ 2.c.α states: “In Paul’s thought esp., all parts of the body constitute a totality known as σ. or flesh, which is dominated by sin to such a degree that wherever flesh is, all forms of sin are likew. present, and no good thing can live in the σάρξ…Gal 5:13, 24;…Opp. τὸ πνεῦμα…Gal 3:3; 5:16, 17ab; 6:8ab.”

[5:13]  ³ tn It is possible that the verb δουλεύετε (douleuete) should be translated “serve one another in a humble manner” here, referring to the way in which slaves serve their masters (see L&N 35.27).

[6:4]  ⁴ tn Or “determine the genuineness of.”

[6:4]  ⁵ tn Grk “he will have a reason for boasting.”

[6:4]  ⁶ tn Or “and not in regard to.” The idea of comparison is implied in the context.

[6:12]  ⁷ tn Grk “in the flesh.” L&N 88.236 translates the phrase “those who force you to be circumcised are those who wish to make a good showing in external matters.”

[6:12]  ⁸ tn Grk “to be circumcised, only.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started with the words “They do so,” which were supplied to make a complete English sentence.

[6:12]  ⁹ tc ‡ Grk “so that they will not be persecuted.” The indicative after ἵνα μή (Jina mh) is unusual (though not unexampled elsewhere in the NT), making it the harder reading. The evidence is fairly evenly split between the indicative διώκονται (diwkontai; Ì⁴⁶ A C F G K L P 0278 6 81 104 326 629 1175 1505 pm) and the subjunctive διώκωνται (diwkwntai; א B D Ψ 33 365 1739 pm), with a slight preference for the subjunctive. However, since scribes would tend to change the indicative to a subjunctive due to syntactical requirements, the internal evidence is decidedly on the side of the indicative, suggesting that it is original.