Galatians 5:5 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

NIV: For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.

NASB: For we, through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.

CSB: For we eagerly await through the Spirit, by faith, the hope of righteousness.

NLT: But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us.

KJV: For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

NKJV: For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

Paul has firmly, even harshly, rejected the idea that any person can be made right with God by following the law of Moses. He has gone further, saying that anyone who tries to add works on top of faith in Christ is, in reality, rejecting faith in Christ. Christ's death for sin is useless to such a person (Galatians 5:2–4).

Yet, that is exactly what the Judaizers were trying to get the Galatian Christians to do: add circumcision and other works of the law on top of faith in Christ in order to be truly acceptable to God (Galatians 2:4). Paul has said in the previous verse that someone who tries to be justified before God by following the law is "severed" from Christ.

Now Paul turns to those who are trusting in Christ alone for their salvation, along with him. Together, he says, we wait eagerly for the hope of righteousness, by faith. What are we waiting for so eagerly? Paul is referring to the day of judgment, when we will hear God Himself declare us righteous because of our faith in Christ. Until that day, we wait, placing all our hope in just one person: Jesus.

Those who follow the law of Moses are waiting, too. Paul has shown that they are waiting in vain, though, since no one can be justified or made righteous without Christ. We can't follow the law perfectly, and so God will declare those who are not in Christ to be unrighteous, including those who are trusting in their attempt to follow the law to save them (Matthew 7:22–23).

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.