Galatians Chapter 5

Gal 5:1 In the freedom with which Messiah has made us free, stand firm, then, and do not again be held with a yoke of slavery.

Paul wrote to the Galatian assembly, very concerned about the strength of their belief. They were being manipulated mainly by two groups: the pagan Galatians trying to get them to participate in the pagan festival days and seasons again, and the Pharisees who were telling them that they could not be redeemed by Messiah unless they were circumcised.

Gal 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the favour of Messiah and are turning to a different good news—

Gal 1:7 which is really no good news at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the good news of Messiah.

Gal 1:8 But even if we or a messenger from heaven should preach a good news other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!

Gal 4:9  But now after you have known Elohim, or rather are known by Elohim, how do you turn again to the weak and poor elementary matters, to which you wish to be enslaved again?

Gal 3:3  Are you so senseless? Having begun in the Spirit, do you now end in the flesh?

Paul then focuses on the push for circumcision by Pharisees:

Gal 5:2  See, I, Sha’ul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Messiah shall be of no use to you. 

Gal 5:3  And I witness again to every man being circumcised that he is a debtor to do the entire Torah. 

Gal 5:4  You who are declared right by Torah have severed yourselves from Messiah, you have fallen from favour.

Paul (Sha’ul) reminds them that he taught them; it is by belief that redemption becomes righteousness and redemption came by Messiah not by doing the things of the Torah. This does not cancel Torah; it puts things in the right order of occurrence. One believes, so he keeps the Sabbath; but keeping the Sabbath without belief will not bring righteousness.

        Gal 2:16  knowing that a man is not declared right by works of Torah, but through belief in יהושע Messiah, even we have believed in Messiah
יהושע, in  order to be declared right by belief in Messiah and not by works of Torah, because by works of Torah no flesh shall be declared right. 

Sha’ul continues that we eagerly expect to receive this righteousness by faith. Messiah isn’t checking to see whether you are circumcised first. He is looking for faith (Belief).
Gal 5:5 But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.

Gal 5:6 For in Messiah יהושע neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Sha’ul then says to the assembly that they were doing well; who caused this shift in thinking?
Gal 5:7 You were running well, who held you back from obeying the truth? 
Gal 5:8 That persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. 
Gal 5:9 A little leaven leavens all the lump. 
Gal 5:10  I trust in you, in the Master, that you shall have no other mind. And he who is troubling you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. 

Sha’ul is explaining in verse 11 that if he was teaching “circumcision for redemption” was required, the persecution of him would have stopped. And the death and resurrection of the Messiah would be of no use and no longer a stumbling-block to the Pharisees.
Gal 5:11 And I, brothers, if I still proclaim circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling-block of the stake has been set aside.

In verse 12, Sha’ul uses the word “cut” in a play on words implying the Pharisees should cut themselves off from bothering you.
Gal 5:12  O that those who disturb you would even cut themselves off!

From verse 13 to the end of chapter5 Sha’ul comments on what “freedom” is and is not; what it can and cannot do for you.
Gal 5:13  For you, brothers, have been called to freedom, only do not use freedom as an occasion for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
“Freedom” is not freedom to sin without damaging your relationship with Yahweh. It is freedom from the “bondage” of sin that previously held you while within you was the seed of the serpent in Genesis. Belief of Yahweh’s word and the redemption of the Messiah puts within you the seed of the woman in Genesis – “the seed is the word of Yahweh” Luke 8;11.

Verses 14 and 15 imply that some sort of internal conflict was occurring in the assembly. And Sha’ul refers to it as “an occasion for the flesh.” Behaving in the flesh is, of course, sin. They are being instructed in verse 13 not to misunderstand “freedom.”
Gal 5:14 The entire Torah is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Gal 5:15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

In verses 16 through 26 Sha’ul’s words teach that obtaining the “Freedom” and seed of Yahweh opens one’s eyes to see; yet one must still choose whether or not to value the redemption Yahshua provided and to love Yahweh – 1 John 5:3 “This is love for Yahweh: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome…”
Take note of the warning given to obey, to not live in the flesh - and this is to believers in the body of Messiah - 5:21 “That those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of Yahweh” (NIV).

Do we follow Torah? Torah is Yahweh’s guidance, direction, and teaching. So yes, we follow Torah. We want Yahweh’s instructions; and if we follow them, the penalties will not apply. Therefore, it is written – “not under Torah” meaning not under any of the penalties, because we are walking obediently by the power of the Spirit within us.
This is why Sha’ul said, Philippians 2:12 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…”

The remaining verses define the threat and our defense.
Gal 5:19  And the works of the flesh are well-known, which are: adultery, whoring, uncleanness, indecency,
Gal 5:20  idolatry, drug sorcery, hatred, quarrels, jealousies, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, 
Gal 5:21  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of Yahweh (NIV).
Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustworthiness, 
Gal 5:23  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no Torah (penalty). 
Gal 5:24  And those who are of Messiah have impaled the flesh with its passions and the desires. 
Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 
Gal 5:26  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.