Galatians 5:15 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

NIV: If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

NASB: But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

CSB: But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.

NLT: But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.

KJV: But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

NKJV: But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

Paul has shown that for Christians to try to live under the law of Moses is a waste of their freedom in Christ (Galatians 3:23–29; 5:1–6). Now he is showing that serving only ourselves is also a waste of that freedom. Instead, we must use that freedom to serve each other in self-sacrificing love (Galatians 5:7–14). This love motive will become the replacement for all of the law of Moses.

Why is this so essential for those in Christ? For one thing, any group made up of people who serve only themselves will eventually fall into conflict. Others will—inescapably—get in the way of our agenda, and the ability to perfectly meet our own desires. To always have things "our way," we will either have to turn aside from the needs of others, or charge on through, trampling on those needs directly. Inevitably, those collisions will lead to the destruction of the entire group.

As James put it, a life lived according to the worldly wisdom of serving self doesn't lead to human happiness. Instead, it leads to "disorder and every vile practice" (James 3:16), along with coveting, quarreling, and fighting (James 4:1–3). As Paul puts it here, we end up devouring and consuming each other in order to try to get what we want.

The alternative is to use our Christ-won freedom to set ourselves aside and serve each other in love. Not only does that lead to greater joy for all of us, it is living as Jesus would as we live free in Him.

Galatians 5:1–15 focuses on what those in Christ should do with our freedom in Christ. First, we must guard it, especially from those who would pressure us to follow the law. Paul was confident the Galatians would resist the one leading them in the wrong direction. Paul also warns us not to waste our freedom in Christ to selfishly serve ourselves instead of serving each other in love. The entire law is fulfilled in that one word: love. Those who serve themselves, though, will always end up in conflict with each other.

Those who trust in Christ have been set free. Paul's readers were in danger of wasting that freedom, by veering off in one of two directions. On the one hand, false teachers were pressuring them into circumcision in order to be sure of being right with God. On the other hand, freedom can also be squandered on serving only our sinful desires instead of investing it through serving others in love. God's Spirit gives us the power to do that when we let Him lead us. Life in the Spirit bears powerful and positive fruit in a Christian's life.

Galatians 3—4 focused on theology. Galatians 5—6 focus on how Christians should live in response to those truths. In short, we must resist being dragged away from the freedom we have in Christ to follow the law. We must also resist wasting our freedom on serving our sinful desires instead of serving others in love. We can do this by the power of God's Spirit with us. When we give Him the lead, powerful, positive characteristics show up in us. Galatians 6 will show how to use those characteristics to serve each other.

Galatians is sometimes called “a short Romans” for its similar themes of justification and sanctification through faith. A group of Christians known as “Judaizers” were preaching a gospel of legalism, rather than grace. Paul’s main purpose in writing the letter to the Galatians was to reiterate the true nature of the gospel: we are justified (made righteous) and sanctified (made more Christlike) through our faith in Jesus Christ alone. This letter was probably written shortly before the church elders in Jerusalem issued their official refutation of the Judaizers, commonly called the Jerusalem Council.