The Freedom of Grace!
Galatians
5:1-15
Introduction: From the days of the American Revolution, it may have been Patrick
Henry [?] who said: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at
the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what
course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me
death!” That might
sound a little radical at some levels but that isn’t too far from what Paul is
saying in this transitional passage in the letter to the Galatians. The paraphrase The Message puts Gal
5:1 like this: “Christ has set us free to
live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of
slavery on you…” (Gal 5:1, MSG).
Jesus told his followers “…if the Son makes you free, you shall be
free indeed!” (Jn 8:36). How are we
to understand Christian freedom? And if we are truly free, how then does
obedience fit into the Christian life? This passage will shed some light.
Context: After defending his apostleship in Chapters 1 and 2, after
clearly arguing for the superiority of the Gospel of Grace in 3 and 4, Paul now
applies that doctrine to practical Christian living (5-6). He emphasizes that right doctrine should
result in right living. We’ll see as we work through this chapter over the
next couple of weeks that the “…freedom for which Christ has made us free…”
(v.1) is freedom to live a life of righteousness in the power of the Holy
Spirit. The final 2 chapters of
Galatians are a portrait of the Spirit-filled life, a picture of believers
implementing the life of faith under the control, and in the power, of the Holy
Spirit. In this part of the letter it is
clear that the Spirit-filled life is evidence of and testimony to the power of
justification by faith. Paul is making
his appeal for the Spirit-filled life of freedom, and warning against reverting
to a futile works-bound life of legalistic self-effort. He begins with the
negative, a warning against the consequences of false doctrine and the
potentially deadly influence of false teachers.
The New Hampshire state motto says “Live free or die!” Paul says,
“Yes, that’s it!”
The Maine* Idea:
Because of Jesus we are free, a freedom which overflows in Spirit-empowered
love to serve others.
I. First, we are set free by the Son! Therefore, Stand fast
in the Liberty… (5:2-6).
2 Look: I, Paul,
say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to
you. 3 I testify again to
every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole
law. 4 You are severed from
Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from
grace. 5 For through the
Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working
through love.
Paul affirms the Gospel is exclusive: By
grace alone, through faith alone! Any
religion that requires “works” contradicts grace (5:2-4). To accept circumcision
as necessary for our justification implies the atonement of Christ was
insufficient. The basic error of every man-made religious system is to think
that we can make ourselves good enough to earn God’s favor. The Scripture is clear that God was never
pleased with mere “outward” obedience: We read in Deuteronomy 30:6, “The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts
and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your
heart and with all your soul, and live.” Divine intervention! God acting on human hearts. So, the Lord also warned
the sinning nation through Jeremiah of the need for a new heart,
…but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight," declares the LORD. 25 "The days are
coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish all who are
circumcised only in the flesh-- 26
Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant
places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole
house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart." (Jer 9:24-26).
It is a heart matter. Likewise, the Psalmist said the sacrifices of God are “a
broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart.” Outward acts of religious
piety may impress men, but God looks at the heart. Charles Spurgeon
said that: “One might better try to sail the Atlantic in a paper boat than
to get to heaven by good works.”
Why then the Law? It shined a light on human
inability, exposing our total depravity. In Galatians 5:3
Paul said, “…every man who lets
himself be circumcised… is obligated to obey the whole law.” In Gal 3:10-11 Paul had written,
All who rely on observing the law are under a
curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything
written in the Book of the Law." 11
Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous
will live by faith."
Similarly, we
read in James 2:10, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles
at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” Grace is our only hope!
Life in the Spirit (5:5-6) Paul
now switches to describing what genuine authentic Christianity looks like. “For
we by the Spirit…” Life in the
Spirit will be a key theme in Gal 5…
God’s Spirit is the means, He empowers us to live in faith, hope, and
love. Look how these terms come together here…
First
we believe Him, “…by faith we wait…” (v.5). In
v. 6 he repeats the key word again, “In Christ what matters is faith…” This has been a key theme repeated in this
letter, “The just shall live by faith!” Faith is believing God, taking
Him at His Word, trusting in Jesus and what He did for us on the cross.
We are, by faith, eagerly waiting
for “...the hope of righteousness…” Because we are justified,
declared righteous in Christ, God’s Spirit in us enables us to look ahead in
hope, with confidence about the future, to the day when this corruptible
will put on incorruption, the day when we see Him and are like Him! We wait
with a sure hope. That hope fuels our living as the Spirit empowers us…
“…faith working through love…”
(v.6). James said faith without works is dead, being by itself. What he means, I think, is that genuine,
authentic faith… works! Ephesians 2:8-10
similarly says we are saved by grace, “…for good works, which God prepared beforehand
that we should walk in them.” Faith,
hope, and love these three… So, because of Jesus, we are free, a freedom which
overflows in Spirit-empowered love to serve others. So, we are set free by the Son, we must…
II. Beware of false teachers who compromise the Gospel of Grace (5:7-12).
7 You were running well. Who
hindered you from obeying the truth?
8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the
whole lump. 10 I have
confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine, and the
one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still
preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense
of the cross has been removed. 12
I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
Notice first of all, they hinder the truth (5:7). “You were running well…” Paul uses the imagery of a race: “…who
hindered you and kept you from obeying the truth…” The question is
rhetorical, he is pointing at the false teachers that were undermining
the Gospel message and even denying the Scriptures they claimed to revere.
They are not of God (5:8) Legalism
doesn’t come from God: “This persuasion does not come from Him
who calls you.” God does not contradict himself - If someone is preaching another
message it comes from the father of lies.
They contaminate the church
(5:9). “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” I am not a baker, but I know it doesn’t take a lot of yeast to
make a loaf of bread rise. A little works through the loaf. Paul is saying false teaching can be like that, if you
let it in, it can work its way through the body quickly. Infections are like that, they can
start small, but if unattended they can spread rapidly to deadly effect.
They will be judged (5:10). “I have
confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who
troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.” False teachers will give an account. We are
responsible to be diligent, searching the Scriptures. His Word is truth! A side-point
here: make no mistake, Believers are secure in Christ.
Paul said, “I have confidence in you…”
Jesus said
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and
they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them
to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand…” (Jn 10:27-29).
Know this: Genuine
believers won’t lose their salvation. Eternal life is forever. But we can
become so compromised in our witness, that our testimony is ruined, and the
gospel is obscured. Keep your eyes on Jesus, because of Him we are free, a
freedom which overflows in Spirit-empowered love to serve others.
III. We are
free to serve others through love (13-15). This
is what Paul meant in Ephesian 2:10 when he said we were “…created in Christ
Jesus unto good works…” It is the idea he expressed to the Philippians when
he said, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is
God who works in you…” (Phil 2:12-13). We are saved by grace alone through
faith alone, and a changed life is the result.
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as
an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled
in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 15 But if you bite and devour one
another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
These verses pick up the theme of
love from 5:6 and press it home with a command in verse 13: "Through
love be servants of one another." Rather than being a license to sin,
our liberty in Christ is an opportunity to serve: because God has loved us, we
are free to love God, and our brothers. Ray Pritchard said: [Our] “…freedom is freedom from sin, not
freedom to sin. As M. Luther put it, freedom is not the right to do what
you want but rather the power to do what you ought.”
Whatever your thoughts on John Piper, it
seems he got to the point here:
“The works of the flesh and
the fruit of love are not two different optional ways to live in freedom. When
you live according to the flesh, you are in slavery. But when you serve each
other in love, you are in freedom. Why? Because love is motivated
by the joy of sharing our fullness, but the works of the
flesh are motivated by the desire to fill our emptiness.”
The flesh is all about me. Love
works for the good of others. People look for meaning and fulfillment in life
in all kinds of places. Only Jesus can satisfy the deepest longing of our
soul, and as we grow closer to Him, we are transformed from the inside out.
What does that freedom look like? Paul gives some insights…
We are free to oppose the flesh (v.13a). “…For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do
not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh…” First Paul states a negative, he points out what our
liberty should not do- The NIV translates the word “flesh” here as “sinful
nature,” and it seems that is the idea Paul wants to communicate. Our freedom should not be an “opportunity”
for the flesh. The word translated “opportunity” in the
older classical Greek meant “starting point, or base of operations, esp. in
military campaigns.” Think about that: In his subtlety, Satan looks for any
opportunity, that is, a “base of operations” for his spiritual warfare with us—and
even our freedom in Christ can be so attacked!
Adam and Eve were morally free people,
able to choose good or evil. They were
free not to sin, yet Satan deceived them into believing that true freedom would
only be found in asserting their autonomy and disobeying God- Their “freedom”
become a “base of operations” from which Satan could attack. Satan is an expert
on human beings and our weaknesses and he will look for any opportunity, any
foothold he can get, and this is one of his favorites. Peter warned,
For when they speak great swelling words of
emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the
ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them
liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is
overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. (2 Pet 2:18,19).
In Christ we are free from that kind of bondage. We
are free to serve others (v.13b). “…rather [BUT… strong
contrast] serve one another through love…”
Notice there is no compulsion, it is service that is motivated by
love. The word “serve” here is a strong
one, it is the verbal form of the word for slave, “serve as a slave…” If you must be a slave, be a slave to the law
of Love. The disciples were a bit slow in learning this lesson that Jesus both
taught and modeled (NB. Luke 22:24-27). Paul urged in Philippians 2:5-7, “have this mind in you which was also in
Christ Jesus…” In John 13:5-15 As
Jesus was preparing His disciples for what was about to unfold the last few
days of his life on earth, He, their teacher and Master, stooped down and
washed his disciples’ feet. He served
them in humility and gave them an example of selfless service: “As I have
done for you, do so for one another.” The Law gave an example of service motivated by
love in Exodus 21:2-6,
…if the servant plainly says, 'I love my
master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,' 6 "then his master shall
bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the
doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve
him forever.”
So, God has called us to the freedom of fullness which overflows in love,
not to the slavery of emptiness which is never satisfied. Because of Jesus we are free, a
freedom which overflows in Spirit-empowered love to serve others.
We are free to fulfill God’s Moral Law
(v.14). “…For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall
love your neighbor as yourself." This is the way life should be, and because
we are no longer slaves, because Jesus has set us free, we are free to love one
another, sincerely, unselfishly. True Christian liberty produces self-control,
service to others, and obedience to God—these attributes are the result
of being in a relationship with God, not the means…
We are free to build others up rather than tear them
down (v.15). “…But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you
be consumed by one another!” The
Christian life is lived in community. We are part of a family. We are a members of His body. Our liberty in Christ
is not intended to be something that would cause us to harm one another, to
tear one another down. The phrase “…bite and devour…” evokes wild
animals engaged in the fury of a deadly struggle. If we are still operating as
legalistic slaves we are operating in our own strength, trying to fill our
emptiness instead of rejoicing in the fullness of Christ.
Piper again had good insight on this: The
works of the flesh and the fruit of love are not two different optional ways to
live in freedom. When you live according to the flesh, you are in slavery. But
when you serve each other in love, you are in freedom. Why? Because love is
motivated by the joy of sharing our fullness, but the works of the flesh are
motivated by the desire to fill our emptiness. The meaning here of "flesh" in the
book of Galatians is not the physical part of man, but man's inner self which
feels a deep emptiness and uses the means within its own power to fill that
emptiness. We’ll see later in the chapter, it is enslaved to one futile desire
after another in its effort to fill an emptiness which only Christ can fill.
When Paul says in 5:13 ,
"Don't use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh," he
means, don't surrender the freedom that you have in the all-satisfying Christ
to return to unsatisfying desires for mere physical pleasures or
self-exaltation.
I think Piper is on to something here: the
works of the flesh are motivated by a desire to fill our emptiness. Love is
very different—it is motivated by the joy of sharing out of our fullness.
"Love does not seek its own" (1 Cor 13:5). When we
love, we are not enslaved to use things or people to fill our emptiness. God
fills us, and love is the overflow. When God frees us from guilt and fear and
greed and fills us with his all-satisfying presence, the only motive left is
the joy of sharing our fullness. When God fills the emptiness of our heart with
forgiveness and help and guidance and hope, he frees us from the bondage to the
world, the flesh and the devil. We don’t live to accumulate things and
manipulate people. When God is our portion we are truly free, free
to serve one another through love.
What is God saying to me in this passage?
The Maine* Idea: Because of Jesus we are free, a
freedom which overflows in Spirit-empowered love to serve others.
What would God have me to do in response to this passage?
Despite all the business of life, do you feel that something is missing? Have
you trusted Jesus as your Savior and Lord?
“If your life is empty it can be filled to overflowing.” Only Jesus can
fill the deepest longing of your soul. If you have trusted Christ that means
He has redeemed you, you are no longer a slave to sin and to Satan—you are free! As you allow his Spirit to fill you and
control you, as you think his thoughts after him, you will discover a freedom
to think of others, to serve them because you love God. Have you believed in
Jesus as the Savior and Lord of your life?
If so, you have been justified by faith, declared not guilty. You are
free! What’s more, God Himself, in
the person of the Holy Spirit, abides in you! Trust God, and live free! AMEN.
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