For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: âYou shall love your neighbor as yourself.â But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
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.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christâs have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:13-26)
All the laws we read in the Bible can be summed up in the commandment of love. If we want to walk in the power of the Holy Sprit, we have to love people. This doesnât come naturally. We need Godâs help and the Holy Spiritâs power to do it. Our natural minds are cursed and we think in sinful thought patterns unless we change them. Our flesh naturally produces the sins we see in verses 19-21 above. They are broken up into four categories: sexual, idolatry, anger, and addictions. But the empowering of the Holy Spirit enables us to not only live free of these things, but to live in the fruit of the Spirit. We can live in love and the other attributes will flow out of love.