Paul’s biggest concern with the Galatian church was that some believed the teaching of some false teachers that it was necessary to follow the Mosaic Law, and he said something in chapter five, verses two through four that was very important. Here are those verses again: “I, Paul, promise you that Christ won’t do you any good if you get circumcised. 3If you do, you must obey the whole Law. 4And if you try to please God by obeying the Law, you have cut yourself off from Christ and his gift of undeserved grace.”
The false teachers were telling the Galatians that in order to please God, they had to follow the Mosaic Law of circumcision. He said that if they did that, they would have to follow the entire Law. By doing that, they would actually be denying the message of the Gospel, and therefore denying Christ. Without faith in Him, it is impossible to please God, because it is impossible to follow the whole Law. Our only hope of salvation is in Jesus.
Paul said in verse one of the same chapter, “Christ has set us free! This means we are really free. Now hold on to your freedom and don’t ever become slaves of the Law again.”
Don’t let legalism separate you from the freedom Jesus gave His life to gain for you. But don’t use that freedom to slap Him in the face, either. In chapter six Paul listed the things that the flesh would have us do, and the things that God’s Spirit grows in us. In other translations, these attributes are called the fruit of the Spirit.
Quickly, because I don’t want to take too much more time, let me just say that fruit is something that grows naturally. An apple tree grows apples because that’s what an apple tree does. The tree doesn’t have to strain to grow them. They just grow.
The same is true for the fruit of the Spirit. If you belong to Jesus, the Holy Spirit is in you, and you will begin to show these fruit in your life. As the Spirit of God matures you, you will just naturally become loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. If you don’t see these attributes growing in you, it’s time to take a close look at your relationship to Him.