Galatians 5:1Plain English VersionListen, Jesus Christ has set us free, and we are properly free. So be strong and stay free. Don’t let anyone make you follow that law again. If you do, it’s like they make you a prisoner again, because they say you have to do everything that law says. See the chapter |
God didn’t give you his Holy Spirit to make you frightened of him. No, he gave you his spirit to make you his kids. You are not like a prisoner that has to work for a cheeky boss, and that boss makes him frightened all the time. No way. You have God’s spirit in you, so you can talk to God and say, “Dad, you are my own good father.”
Some of you are that sort of worker. Your boss owns you and controls you. But think about this. God picked you to join up with Jesus, and you are in his family, so now you are properly free. You are free from the bad things you used to do. They don’t control you any more. In the same way, some of you are free people, nobody owns you. But think about this. God picked you, and you are in Jesus’s family, so now Jesus owns you and you work all the time for him.
So put on that special gear from God, so you can stand up against the devil. This is what that gear is. – You know that a soldier wears a belt, to hold his clothes on tight, so he can move quickly in a fight. Well, just like that, you take notice of what is true, so you can fight better against the devil. – And a soldier wears an iron plate, to stop the enemy from hitting his chest. Well, you have to always do what is right, and that will be like an iron plate for you, to stop the devil from hitting you. –
Listen, you heard the good news about Jesus Christ, and you trusted him, so keep on living the way he wants you to live, no matter what happens. Maybe I will come and visit you again, but maybe not. Maybe I will only hear what people tell me about you. Anyway, I want to find out that you are staying strong for Jesus, and that God’s spirit is joining you all together, so that you are all agreeing with each other and working together to tell people about Jesus.
So then, Christian friends, you have to keep strong and keep on properly trusting Jesus. Keep on believing the things that we taught you. You see, Jesus taught us those things, and later we taught them to you. We told you those things when we were there with you, and after that, we wrote letters to you to tell you more. Now keep on believing those things.
You are my very good friends. I really want to tell you about how God has saved us all, but instead I reckon I have to write about something else. You see, we are God’s own people, and he gave us a true message that he will not change. You have to try really hard to keep God’s true message safe. You can’t let anyone stop you doing what that message says.