Galatians – Not Bound but Free

Hi All, we continue through Galatians and we look at Galatians 5:1-12 this week.

After spending the last four chapters of this epistle emphasising that man is justified by grace through faith in Christ, that now we are no longer subject to the law but live under grace and are therefore free in Christ, Paul writes about standing firm in that freedom.

Galatians 5:1-2 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.”

Christ has set us free from the power of sin and death. His grace set us free from being under the yoke of the law. By holding on to the law, there is a tendency to allow the focus to shift to you, of taking pride in your obedience in keeping the law and therefore what Jesus did on the cross lessens in value. It can be argued that it is not true, as the Judaisers were not removing Christ from the whole requirement of salvation but were adding the need for circumcision and following of the law. But what does that mean towards what Christ did on the cross for humanity – that what He did was not enough, that something more required to be added? 

Christ is enough, and it is only through Him that we can be made righteous. And once saved, Christ is not meant to be just present or prominent in our lives, but He is to be pre-eminent. He takes first place and the most important place.

For us: Is Christ present or prominent in your life or does He take the place of pre-eminence where everything else is surrendered to Him?

Hence, placing yourself under the yoke of the law, was as Paul writes, leading one to fall away from grace and be alienated from Christ (Gal 5:4), as it impedes our trust and dependence on God. When you lean on your own ability to be made right before God, where does humility, dependence and surrender lie?

For us: In what areas do you tend to lean on your ability, rather than surrender to God?

Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

Although, through the text not getting circumcised was used as the main point of the argument, Paul is not talking about the relevance of circumcision as an act but the meaning and significance it was being given. As we discussed in our earlier lessons, circumcision was a symbol of the covenant God made with Abraham. Abraham was made righteous because of his faith. Therefore, a deed even though not bad in itself, if done with the wrong motivation to look a certain way before others or to merit favour with God, becomes a sin. A lesson for us all to be mindful of our motivations.

For us: Take a moment and reflect on an area that God is bringing your attention to and think on your motivations, are they self-serving or God honouring?

And Paul highlights that true faith is just not in words alone but is evidenced in action motivated by love that finds it origin and foundation in God and is extended towards others.

Galatians 5:7-9 “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 

Paul likens the spiritual journey to running a race, it reminds us that to run a race takes effort, training and you never do it alone, so be mindful of who you got around you. There are those that propel you to run better with a lot of support and encouragement and there are those that can be an impediment to your race.

 And just as yeast works its way through the dough and creates an impact through the entire batch, we are to be cautious in who we listen to, who we surround ourselves with and what we feed ourselves with. In a time and age where there is an abundance of voices, be mindful of who you are listening to. If we take a moment and reflect on the times of the Galatians; the way to communicate was with letters and by people who visited them. When they heard Paul, they believed and placed their faith in Jesus. But in Paul’s absence, when the Jewish leaders were the main voice and teaching that they heard, they were confused and began to consider what was taught by them. Similarly, the more we allow culture to be the prominent voices we listen to, the more it tends to dullen our spiritual sensitivity, what once would have been a shock tends to become acceptable.

For us: The more you spend time studying the word of God, the more you familiarise yourself with the standards of God. The less the time in the word and with God, the more with ease the enemy will lead us to justifying and accepting that which is an abomination to God.

Prayer: May the Lord help us to run our race well, to be discerning in the voices we listen to and may He help us to be good companions to others in their race. Amen.

God Bless.