But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Parallel translations
- KJV But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
- BSB But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
- NKJV But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
- NASB But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
- NLT But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Those led by the Spirit are not under the law. Spirit-led living frees believers from the law as a condemning, enslaving system.
Overview
Paul ties together his teaching on the Spirit and freedom from the law. To be 'led by the Spirit' is to live under grace, no longer bound to the law as a means of righteousness or as a master. This does not mean lawlessness, for the Spirit produces true holiness, but it confirms the believer's liberty in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Rom 8:14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.
- Rom 6:14–15For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
- Prov 8:20I walk in the way of righteousness, in the middle of the paths of justice;
- Gal 5:25If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.
- Gal 4:5–6that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children.
- Ezek 36:27I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.
- Gal 5:16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.
- Rom 7:4Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God.
- John 16:13However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.
- Isa 48:16–18“Come near to me and hear this: “From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it happened, I was there.” Now the Lord Yahweh has sent me, with his Spirit.
- Ps 25:4–5Show me your ways, Yahweh. Teach me your paths.
- 2 Tim 1:7For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
- Ps 143:8–10Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.
- Ps 25:8–9Good and upright is Yahweh, therefore he will instruct sinners in the way.
- 1 Tim 1:9as knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
- 1 Jn 2:20–27You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
- Rom 8:12So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 5:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.