Galatians 5:26 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

NIV: Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

NASB: Let’s not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

CSB: Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

NLT: Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.

KJV: Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

NKJV: Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

In this chapter, Paul has been describing how those in Christ should live. Believers ought to live in the power of, and by the direction of, the Spirit of God. Paul wrote in the previous verse that we must "keep in step with the Spirit." It's a mysterious idea that is hard to understand, but it is worth the effort. Life in the Spirit of God is powerful, meaningful, and the absolute pinnacle of human experience on this side of eternity. Like allowing a dance partner to lead, while we follow their guidance, we are meant to allow the Spirit of God to guide our will, so we can fully embrace who we are in Christ.

But what if we skip this kind of obedience? What if, in our willfulness or neglect or lack of interest, a Christian just does not participate in "walking by the Spirit"?

Paul answers that, in part, in this verse: we become conceited, proud, and arrogant. Life in the Spirit of God requires submission to God and humility. It is about Him and not us. Trying to lead a Christian life in our own power results in too much focus on ourselves, puffing us up in the way that religious people often become self-righteous.

From there, it gets worse. Proud people, by definition, are in the business of self-promotion. That leads to provoking others to compete with us instead serving alongside us. Inevitably, prideful religious competitions for honor and self-worth lead to envy, resenting those who seem to outwardly have obtained what we want everyone to see in us.

Without the power and direction-setting of the Holy Spirit, the Christian life turns into a destructive and self-serving religious existence. Rather than fall into that pit, Paul seems to say, we should figure out how to walk by the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16–26 focuses on how God's Spirit gives those in Christ the power to serve others in love. We must allow the Holy Spirit to lead, however. When we don't, our selfishness will lead us into all kinds of sinful lifestyles. When we live by the Spirit, on the other hand, we gain more than just being able not to live in sin. What comes out of us are a collection of powerful, positive characteristics.

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.