Galatians 5

Galatians 5:4:
Gal 5:4: You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

Christ will not be the Saviour of any who will not own and rely upon him as their only Saviour. Let us take heed to the warnings and persuasions of the apostle to stedfastness in the doctrine and liberty of the gospel. All true Christians, being taught by the Holy Spirit, wait for eternal life, the reward of righteousness, and the object of their hope, as the gift of God by faith in Christ; and not for the sake of their own works. The Jewish convert might observe the ceremonies or assert his liberty, the Gentile might disregard them or might attend to them, provided he did not depend upon them. No outward privileges or profession will avail to acceptance with God, without sincere faith in our Lord Jesus. True faith is a working grace; it works by love to God, and to our brethren. May we be of the number of those who, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. The danger of old was not in things of no consequence in themselves, as many forms and observances now are. But without faith working by love, all else is worthless, and compared with it other things are of small value. --Matthew Henrys

Christ is become of no effect unto you,.... Or "ye are abolished from Christ"; or as others by an "hypallage" read the words, "Christ is abolished unto you"; for by their seeking for justification by their own works, it was all one to them as if there was no Christ, and no righteousness in him, and no salvation by him; they had nothing to do with him, nor he with them: whosoever of you are justified by the law; that is, who sought to be justified by their obedience to the law, or who thought they were, and trusted in themselves that they were righteous; for otherwise, by the deeds of the law, no flesh living can be justified: ye are fallen from grace; that is, either from that grace which they professed to have; for there might be some in these churches, as in others, who were only nominal Christians, and formal professors; who had declared they saw themselves lost and undone sinners, destitute of a righteousness, and professed to believe in Christ alone for righteousness and strength, but now trusted in themselves, and in the works of the law: or from the scheme of grace in the whole of man's salvation, which will admit of no mixture of works; either it is one or the other, it cannot be both; wherefore by their taking on the side of works, they showed that they had entirely dropped the scheme of grace: or else from the Gospel of the grace of God, from whence they were removed, through the influence of false teachers; particularly the doctrine of free justification by the grace of God, through the righteousness of Christ; which was entirely set aside by their seeking to be instilled by the works of the law; and from this they might be said to be fallen, who were on such a bottom.
--Gills Exposition

Fallen from grace—Ye no longer "stand" in grace (Ro 5:2). Grace and legal righteousness cannot co-exist (Ro 4:4, 5; 11:6). Christ, by circumcision (Lu 2:21), undertook to obey all the law, and fulfil all righteousness for us: any, therefore, that now seeks to fulfil the law for himself in any degree for justifying righteousness, severs himself from the grace which flows from Christ's fulfilment of it, and becomes "a debtor to do the whole law" (Ga 5:3). The decree of the Jerusalem council had said nothing so strong as this; it had merely decided that Gentile Christians were not bound to legal observances. But the Galatians, while not pretending to be so bound, imagined there was an efficacy in them to merit a higher degree of perfection (Ga 3:3). This accounts for Paul not referring to the decree at all. He took much higher ground. See Paley's Horæ Paulinæ. The natural mind loves outward fetters, and is apt to forge them for itself, to stand in lieu of holiness of heart.

I have had people point to Galatians 5:4 and say, "Doesn't Paul say that at least some of the Galatian Christians had fallen from grace? And, if they could fall from grace, so can we today." How did they take the verse out of context? We would agree that the book is addressed to Christians (Galatians 1:6,9; 5:1). We would also agree that some of the readers had fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4) and some were on the verge of doing so (Galatians 5:2). We would even agree that it is possible for believers today to fall from grace. The text clearly does not limit this falling to the Galatian Christians only. Any Christian who reverts to seeking to be justified by law has fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4). The problem is in the conclusion we draw, not in the premises. The whole issue here is what falling from grace means. Does it mean that the believers in question have fallen from their positional standing in grace? If it does, then Paul contradicts himself because in other passages he clearly states that is impossible (cf. Romans 8:38-39; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; Colossians 2:13-14; 1 Thessalonians 5:10; 2 Timothy 2:13). Since scripture is God's Word, it cannot contradict itself. Thus, whatever Paul meant by falling from grace he did not mean falling from one's position as a child of God. Is there not another obvious alternative, one which fits the context and Pauline and biblical theology perfectly? Falling from grace means that a believer who reverts to pharisaical thinking and practices has fallen from a present experience of grace. While our position in the grace of God is secure, our experience of His grace is not. If a believer today is unwittingly duped into joining a works-salvation cult, he will cease to experience God's grace until he leaves the cult. In fact, if a believer joins any group, cult or otherwise, which teaches that we must produce good works in order to maintain our salvation, he will cease to experience grace. Even the linking of assurance to the quality of our lives can lead a believer to fall from a daily experience of grace. Falling from grace is a real problem today. May we proclaim the gospel and assurance clearly so that we can help people begin anew or continue to experience God's grace in their daily lives.
--Bob Wilkin

Galatians 5:6:
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor circumcision; but faith which worketh by love."

The faith which justifies is the faith which works. Those who say, and do not, are not men of faith. The obedience which is pleasing to God is the fruit of that faith which takes God at His word, and submits to the working of His power, being fully assured that what He has promised He is able to perform. This is the faith which is reckoned for righteousness.

Galatians 5:20:
idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions

Magic and witchcraft are socially destructive forces whose function it is to strike at the community and to disrupt it. The medieval cults of witches were active in destruction and were aimed at the over throw of Christian order. Because scripture recognizes the deadly consequences of witchcraft, it strikes at it sharply as a murderous force (Ex 22:18. Deut 18, 10, Rev 21:8). Witchcraft murders both indviduals and cultures in a deadly and anti-social force. The so-called “primitive” societies are rather degenerate societies in which envy and witchcraft is triumphed. The triumph of these evils in any culture will mark its decline into barbarism.

Galatians 5:22-23:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

The Greek word translated “fruit” refers to the natural product of a living thing. Paul used “fruit” to help us understand the product of the Holy Spirit, who lives inside every believer. The fruit of the Spirit is produced by the Spirit, not by the Christian. The Greek word is singular, showing that “fruit” is a unified whole, not independent characteristics. As we grow, all the characteristics of Christ will be manifested in our lives.
Yet, like physical fruit needs time to grow, the fruit of the Spirit will not ripen in our lives overnight. Like a successful gardener must battle against weeds to enjoy the sweet fruit they desire, we must constantly work to rid our lives of the “weeds” of our old sin natures that want to choke out the work of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit gives us the power we need to reject those old sinful desires. We can say “no” to sin and accept the “way out” God faithfully provides (1 Corinthians 10:13) by following the Holy Spirit’s leading. As we give the Spirit more control of our lives, He begins to do in and through us what only He can do - to shape us and grow us to look like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). -Kathy Howard

These are the fruit of the Spirit that are produced by the Spirit. He cultivates them through us, beyond our natural abilities. The Bible says our nature is in direct opposition to the Spirit. We cannot produce love, joy, or any other fruit without Him.
"For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish" (Galatians 5:17).
So, how do we live out the fruit of the Spirit when it doesn’t come naturally?
Pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, once said, “Fruit is always the miraculous, the created; it is never the result of willing, but always of growth. The fruit of the Spirit is a gift of God, and only He can produce it.” -Love Worth Finding

Growing in the fruit of the Spirit is expected of those who have decided to turn to God. These characteristics aren’t suggestions or possibilities; they are aspects of the mind of God. We are to grow to think and act more like God does, and the fruit of the Spirit helps outline the path of a Christian.
Yet many who claim to be Christian don’t display these fruits very well. It takes more than saying you are a Christian; it takes the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of the Spirit.
Those who have been baptized and received the Holy Spirit should be demonstrating these traits more every day. In fact, without God’s Spirit, the full spiritual maturity of the fruit of the Spirit cannot be achieved. The human spirit can only achieve these characteristics on the surface level, and more often it produces the works of the flesh Paul describes in Galatians 5:19-21:
“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God -Life Hope & Truth

The Greek word αγαπϵαγαπϵ, describes a type of love which is “self-sacrifitial,” devoted to someone… The love that is willing to serve others. This type of love is what makes it possible for believers to commune and be at peace with one another. (See 1 Cor. 13:4-13).

“Religion can never give this to you. Only Christ can give you deep-down peace.” -J Vernon McGee

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NIV).
“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins’” (1 Peter 4:8).

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit’s work in the life of believer. That means that it is something more than an emotion we have in the right circumstances. Our joy, as Christians, is rooted in something much deeper. It’s source is in the work of Christ for our salvation.
Joy doesn’t mean that we go through life with happy-clappy attitudes and smiles plastered on our faces. There is a time for rejoicing and a time for sorrow. It’s appropriate to grieve and cry at times. But in those times, we have not lost our joy. We still have that sense of anticipation. Christ is the only joy that lasts. -Rachel Green Miller

The fruit of self-control speaks to resisting the ways of the world and living a Godly life. It means that we are living by the Fruit of the Spirit instead of the works of the flesh. It takes self control to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us and live by love for others. This doesn’t mean love as the world loves, but the agape love of Jesus. -Bloggers for the Kingdom