Bible Strands
Galatians 5:16
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Galatian churches, who are being drawn back into law-keeping as their basis of standing. He has just warned them against internal destruction (v.15) and is about to name the opposition between flesh and Spirit (v.17).
The words — peripateite (περιπατεῖτε) is a present imperative: "keep walking," a sustained mode of life rather than a one-time decision. pneumati (πνεύματι) is dative, marking the Spirit as the means by which that walking happens.
The thread — Romans 8:12 states the obligation "not to the flesh, to live according to it"; Galatians 5:24 says those in Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires; Galatians 6:8 frames it as sowing to the flesh or to the Spirit.
Why it lands — The promise is negative: the flesh's desires will not be gratified — not that life becomes easy. The command is to maintain a direction (walking by the Spirit) rather than to win a single battle by effort.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Cross-references
- Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
- Romans 8:12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.
- Galatians 6:8 The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
- Galatians 5:19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
- Colossians 3:5 Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
- Romans 8:4 so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
- 1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
- 1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- 2 Corinthians 7:1 Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
- Romans 13:13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.