Galatians 5 (CEB)
13 You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only don’t let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love. 14 All the Law has been fulfilled in a single statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. 15 But if you bite and devour each other, be careful that you don’t get eaten up by each other!
Freedom in Christ is freedom from bondage, not freedom to consume.
Here are some questions for discussion:
1. There is more than just one way to show your love for a neighbor, what are some of the ways you have found to love your neighbor? Have you been in a situation where it was not possible or safe to demonstrate your love for a neighbor? What did you do?
2. Paul calls it “the Fruit of the Spirit (singular, not a list of separate virtues.) What might that reveal about how these qualities are meant to grow? Could this fruit be less about individualized moral achievement and more about what the Spirit cultivates between us in beloved community? How might we shift from “Do I have the fruit?” to “What kind of harvest are we offering the world together?”
3. In what ways might bearing the “Fruit of the Spirit” serve as a radical act of resistance in today’s empire driven society? How can movements for liberation and wholeness remain Spirit-filled—sustaining love, joy, and gentleness without losing urgency, momentum, or power?
If you’d like to dig a little deeper, consider the following:
1. How might the “freedom to” mindset help us to better live in the “freedom from” mindset? What does our free will do to make loving more impactful?
2. In what ways can learning to share love with others help us to be better at accepting love from others? How can letting others love us be a path to us loving them?
3. When we seek to do as Paul suggests and “crucify the flesh”, what happens when we’ve internalized hatred for our own otherness? Our race? Gender? Sexual Orientation? or disability/condition? How do we discern between killing what distorts us and reclaiming what the world distorted in us?
4. How might Paul’s frightening warning about our appetites for consumption today represent something less metaphorical and more tangible in our lives?
5. Beyond sentiment or slogans, how is your love embodied in policy, proximity, and daily choices? What is one habit, practice, or rhythm that helps you actively love the people nearest you? If your neighbor was watching your life—not your words, would they feel loved?
For further contemplation, consider these quotes & prompts:
1. In verse 13, Paul says we are called to freedom. How might this idea of freedom land on people who’ve known only survival, bondage, marginalization, or generational oppression? Does the church make space for these people to heal before asking them to live freely? What might that journey need to look like?
2. Verse 24 talks about crucifying the flesh. What parts of us feel too sacred or necessary to crucify, even if we know they’re rooted in fear or ego?