Galatia 5:13-14

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  5:14 For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, ⁴  namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” ⁵ 

[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).

[5:14]  ⁴ tn Or “can be fulfilled in one commandment.”

[5:14]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.