It’s important to understand the context in which Paul is writing to the church in Galatia. Folks have come into the community of faith and are teaching that the Gentiles must follow the law of Moses to be a Jesus-follower. They have made the claim that the works of the law are what brings the Spirit to us (3:1-5) making us slaves to that law rather than servants to God’s love which is what Paul believes and teaches. That Spirit-guided freedom leads us to a life of love rather than a life of submitting to our own egotistic, selfish desires and indulgences.
Or as Dr. Carla Works, Dean and Professor of 
New Testament at Wesley Theological Seminary puts it: Through Christ, we have been set free to serve one another in love. Though Paul’s metaphorical use of slavery is jarring, there is truth behind the metaphor. The cross teaches us what love looks like, and the work of God’s Spirit in us is the only way that we are ever going to be free from our own selfishness to exhibit a fraction of that kind of love toward anyone—let alone people whom we do not like.[1]
If we think that our freedom in Christ comes from the law, which often becomes rigid and forbidding, used to exclude, dominate, and harm people, then and now, then the fruits become selfish desire or the results of self-hatred, hatred of others, or doing whatever feels good to us even if it harms us or others. Notice that list of things is really long and points to feuds, hostility towards self or others, jealousy, super-competitiveness, anger, forms of immorality, and hyper-division.
What would that kind of Spirit-guided freedom lead us to do? What actions would we take if we yield to a rigid, forbidding works of the law? What otherizing, dehumanizing actions might we take? What fights would we start? How would we treat others or ourselves if we submitted to the bondage of slavery again as Paul defines it? What does that look like in terms of human cost?
But, if we accept that our freedom in Christ comes from the Spirit, then we submit to the summation of the law which in this passage is stated as: Love your neighbor as yourself (5:14). And the fruits of this Spirit-guided freedom is a shorter but very powerful list: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
What actions would we take if we yield to this Spirit-guided freedom? What would we do if we practiced these nine fruits? Who would we care for, stand up for? Could we love ourselves and others better than we do now? Would we ever otherize or dehumanize someone? Would humanity be better if we demonstrated these fruits in our daily living?
Maybe it all gets summed up in verses 25-26: 25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit. Let’s not become arrogant, make each other angry, or be jealous of each other.
Let’s ask ourselves: Which Spirit-guided freedom do we yield to? And, to do what?
[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-13-3/commentary-on-galatians-51-13-25-5, accessed 5/19/2025