What Does the Bible Say About Addiction?

The Bible doesn't use the word 'addiction,' but it deeply understands the cycle of doing what you hate and feeling powerless to stop. And it offers a way out.

Can Christians Get Tattoos?

Leviticus 19:28 prohibits tattoos in context of pagan mourning. Most see this as ceremonial law.

What Was Circumcision About?

Circumcision was the physical sign of belonging to God's covenant. Paul later argued that the heart circumcision — faith — was what always mattered.

What Does the Bible Say About Joy?

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Day 4 of 7

Walk by the Spirit

Back to plan

Free People Don't Go Back.

Q: What Does the Bible Say About Serving Others?

Jesus modeled a life of service. Serving others is central to what it means to follow him.

Q: What Does the Bible Say About Jealousy?

God's jealousy is righteous protection. Human jealousy is usually selfish destruction. The Bible distinguishes between the two — and warns hard about the second.

Q: What Is Galatians About?

Galatians at a glance — authorship, date, key themes, and why it's in the Bible.

Q: What Does the Bible Say About Tattoos?

Leviticus 19:28 prohibits tattoos — in the context of pagan mourning rituals. Whether that applies today depends on how you read the Old Testament law. Christians disagree.

Q: Is Smoking Weed a Sin?

The Bible says be sober-minded and honor your body as a temple. Apply honestly.

Galatians 5 — The chapter where Paul dares you to stop performing and start trusting

6 min read

Key Takeaways

The only thing that counts is "faith expressing itself through love" — five words that replace an entire religious system.

The Spirit produces fruit, not results. You don't manufacture patience through willpower any more than a tree manufactures apples through effort.
Jealousy, division, and rivalry sit on the same list as the sins churches publicly condemn — Paul wasn't ranking, he was exposing.

📢 Chapter 5 — Free People Don't Go Back 🔓

has been building to this moment for four chapters. The in — communities he personally planted — were being talked into going backward. A group of teachers had shown up after Paul left and started telling these believers that in wasn't quite enough. They needed to follow Jewish too — starting with . And Paul was furious. Not annoyed. Not mildly concerned. The kind of furious you get when you watch someone you walk back into the very thing they were rescued from.

Inside this Chapter

Love Growth Identity Temptation Spiritual Warfare

Questions about this Chapter

application

What Does the Bible Say About Serving Others?

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What Does the Bible Say About Jealousy?

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What Is Galatians About?

application

What Does the Bible Say About Tattoos?

application

Is Smoking Weed a Sin?

theology

What Is the Fruit of the Spirit?

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From the Spotlight

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The Addiction Epidemic

Paul wrote 'I do the very thing I hate.' Two thousand years later, that's still the most honest description of addiction.

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Reflect

Look at the fruit of the Spirit list. Which one is most missing from your life right now?

Paul says 'walk by the Spirit and you won't gratify the flesh.' What does that practically look like for you?

This chapter is where the whole argument lands. Paul draws the clearest possible line between and , between the Spirit and the flesh — and then shows what life actually looks like when you stop performing and start trusting.

Don't Go Back in the Cage 🔗

Addiction

opened with one of the most quotable lines he ever wrote. And then immediately got personal:

"It was for freedom that Christ set you free. So stand firm — and don't let anyone put you back under a yoke of slavery.

Listen to me — I, Paul, am telling you directly: if you go through with circumcision as a requirement for God's acceptance, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all. Let me be absolutely clear — anyone who accepts circumcision as a ticket to righteousness is now obligated to keep the entire law. Every single rule.

If you're trying to be made right with God through rule-keeping, you've cut yourself off from Christ. You've walked away from Grace.

But through the Spirit, by faith, we're waiting eagerly for the righteousness we hope for. Because in Christ Jesus, circumcision means nothing. Uncircumcision means nothing. The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love."

Think about what he just said. He didn't say was bad. He said that going back to it as your strategy for being okay with God means you've abandoned the strategy that actually works — through faith. It's like being handed a full pardon and then walking back into the courtroom to argue your own case. Why would you do that? The verdict is already in.

And that last line — "faith working through " — that's the whole thing in five words. Not faith plus performance. Not faith plus tradition. that naturally produces love. That's the engine.

You Were Running So Well 🏃

Now got personal in a different way. You can hear the frustration and the heartbreak at the same time:

"You were running so well. Who cut in and tripped you up? Who convinced you to stop following the truth? Whatever they told you — it didn't come from the God who called you.

You know how a tiny bit of yeast works its way through an entire batch of dough? That's what's happening here.

I still have confidence in the Lord that you'll come around — that you won't buy what these people are selling. And whoever is stirring this up will face the consequences. It doesn't matter who they are.

And honestly — if I were still preaching circumcision like they claim, why would anyone be persecuting me? If I were saying what they're saying, the cross wouldn't be offensive anymore. The whole point of the cross is that it replaces the old system.

As for those people who keep pushing circumcision on you — I wish they'd go all the way and cut the whole thing off."

Yes, Paul actually said that. He was so fed up with people who were obsessed with as a spiritual requirement that he essentially said, "If they cutting so much, they should keep going." It's raw. It's a little shocking. And it tells you how seriously Paul took this. These weren't minor theological differences to him. People's was at stake. When someone is trying to drag people back into bondage they've been rescued from, politeness stops being a virtue.

Freedom Isn't a Free-for-All 🤝

Here's where anticipated the obvious pushback. If we're free from , doesn't that mean we can do whatever we want? He headed that off immediately:

"You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters. But don't use your freedom as an excuse to do whatever your impulses tell you. Instead, use your freedom to serve each other through love.

The entire law — all of it — is summed up in one sentence: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

But if you spend your time attacking each other and tearing each other apart — watch out. You'll destroy each other."

This is the part people miss when they talk about . Paul wasn't saying "no rules, do whatever feels right." He was saying the whole point of being free from the rule system is that you're now free to actually people. Before, you were performing. Now you can genuinely give. Freedom isn't the absence of obligation — it's the presence of a new motivation. You're not serving because you have to earn something. You're serving because love is what free people naturally do.

And that warning at the end? It's painfully relevant. that should be known for love tearing each other apart over preferences, politics, and power. That's not freedom. That's just chaos with a Christian label.

Two Forces, One Battle ⚔️

Temptation

laid out the fundamental tension that every believer lives in. And he didn't sugarcoat it:

"Here's what I'm telling you: walk by the Spirit, and you won't carry out the desires of your old nature. Because the flesh and the Spirit are at war with each other. They want opposite things. They're directly opposed — which is why you so often feel stuck, wanting to do the right thing but pulled toward something else.

But if you're being led by the Spirit, you're not under the law.

And the products of the flesh? They're obvious. You don't have to look hard to find them: sexual immorality, impurity, reckless indulgence, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, conflict, jealousy, explosive anger, selfish ambition, division, an us-versus-them mentality, envy, drunkenness, wild partying, and everything else like it.

I'm warning you the same way I warned you before — people who make a lifestyle of these things will not inherit the Kingdom of God."

Look at that list carefully. It's not just the obvious stuff — the sexual and the substance abuse. Right there in the middle are things that look a lot more respectable: jealousy, rivalries, divisions, fits of anger. The person who tears apart a with gossip is on the same list as the person the church would publicly condemn. That's uncomfortable. Paul wasn't ranking sins. He was exposing the full range of what life without the Spirit produces — and some of it shows up in committee meetings, not just in dark alleys.

That line about not inheriting the is heavy, and it should be. Paul wasn't talking about someone who struggles and fails and gets back up. He was talking about someone who makes these things their permanent address. There's a difference between a battle and a surrender.

The Fruit That Proves Everything 🌱

Growth Patience

And then shifted from the darkness to the light. Same author, completely different list:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is:

Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-control.

There is no law against any of these things."

Paul paused to let that land. Then he finished:

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their old nature — with all its passions and cravings. If we're alive by the Spirit, let's actually keep in step with the Spirit. Let's not become arrogant, provoking each other, competing with each other."

Notice something — he called it fruit, not results. Not achievements. Not the seven habits of highly spiritual people. Fruit. Fruit grows naturally when the conditions are right. You don't manufacture it. You don't grit your teeth and produce patience through sheer willpower. You stay connected to the source, and these things start showing up in your life the way apples show up on an apple tree. Not because the tree is trying. Because that's what healthy trees do.

And notice there's no law against any of them. That's Paul's quiet mic drop. You spent all this energy trying to be right with God through rules — but here's a list of qualities that no law would ever restrict. Nobody legislates against kindness. Nobody outlaws gentleness. When the Spirit is producing the fruit, you don't need anymore. You've outgrown it. Not because you're above it, but because you're living from something deeper than it ever required.

That's the whole chapter. isn't doing whatever you want. Freedom is becoming the kind of person who naturally wants the right things — because you're walking with the Spirit who's been shaping you all along.

Key Takeaways

📢 Chapter 5 — Free People Don't Go Back 🔓

Inside this Chapter

Questions about this Chapter

What Does the Bible Say About Serving Others?

What Does the Bible Say About Jealousy?

What Is Galatians About?

What Does the Bible Say About Tattoos?

Is Smoking Weed a Sin?

What Is the Fruit of the Spirit?

From the Spotlight

The Addiction Epidemic

My Notes

Don't Go Back in the Cage 🔗

You Were Running So Well 🏃

Freedom Isn't a Free-for-All 🤝

Two Forces, One Battle ⚔️

The Fruit That Proves Everything 🌱