Galatians 5:1-15 FREEDOM TO SERVE Paul concluded the practical section of Galatians by reminding the believers in Christ of who they really were, not just who the Judaizers said they were. We need to be reminded that we have been born free to serve our risen Lord with joy and faith. We are not obligated to rules and regulations to be saved or to force us into serving God in order to be saved. The Christian life is lived by the power of the Spirit of God. In this chapter, we are reminded we are waiting by the Spirit for the blessings of the future. During this waiting time, we walk in the Spirit to produce the fruit of the Spirit. When we live in the Spirit, we are able to sow to the Spirit and reap the blessings of the Spirit. Christ has died to set us free to do what is impossible to accomplish by our own efforts. We have been made able to live for God without the legalism the law imposes on those who chose to live under its domination. Freedom to serve God comes as a result of His liberating grace.
The message of the book of Galatians is simply stated in verse one of chapter five. We have been freed from the bondage of slavery to the "schoolmaster," and are free to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. We are free from the law and free for loving service. The special conditions the false teachers were propagating in order for people to be saved included circumcision. If they were circumcised as a religious ordinance to be saved, that would be adding to what Christ has done and takes away Christ Himself as the Savior of sinners. The whole orientation of salvation would be changed by that one act, from being a work of God's grace to a work of one's own doing. If that were the case, one is obligated to do every demand of the law perfectly, and at all times without failure. Any honest person knows they fail because the standard of the law is perfection, God's own perfect righteousness. He has given us this law so we will face our sins and come to Him for forgiveness which is found in "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Those who believe they are justified by the law are severed from Christ. Choosing the law cuts one off from any hope of being saved. Believers in Christ are justified by His grace and need to be clear in their understanding of this truth. Otherwise, even those who are truly saved may begin to wonder if they are secure in Christ. Those who say they are justified by the law are not saved nor have they ever been saved. It isn't any easier for God to save moral law-keepers than any other person because "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." In fact, it is often harder for a morally upright person to see their need of God's grace, than it is for a person who lives with guilt because of a sinful lifestyle. Children of believing parents often find it difficult to trust Christ for salvation because they already live like Christians and believe all they have been taught about Him. They know He died for their sins. Their moral conduct in life has separated them already from many of the ungodly practices of their friends. God's grace reaches the righteous living person in the same way as it does to those who know their need because of a sinful life. Every person has to admit to their own sinful nature before they will cast themselves on to the grace of God for salvation. That "hope of righteousness" is the declaration of the imparted righteousness of Christ that has been given to us and will be forever. The "we" here refers to saved people, not the "you" people in the previous verse. Real faith in Christ expresses itself in love for God and for others when we are free to serve, not just free from sin.
The believers in the assemblies of Galatia had done well in the early part of their Christian life. They obeyed the truth and acted on what was right until someone stopped them with false teaching. It is a sad fact that many believers start out well but under pressure from their peers, particularly if they are young, or the pressures of ambition and materialism when they get older, they slow down and then even stop in their Christian growth. As a Christian, their effectiveness has come to a halt. One has said, " In the Christian life, if one isn't going ahead, they are going backward. There is no neutral place in the Christian life." So, what makes this persuasion so attractive to believers? When we begin our life in Christ, we are fully conscious of our inability in ourselves to please God in our flesh. But it is not too long before we feel we are lacking the enthusiasm and commitment we once had. False teachers take advantage of that and tell people they are missing something. They haven't "got it all." And this doctrinal leaven infects a whole lot of people with its deceptive, subtle, evil teaching. To add to the work of God, the works of men as being necessary to salvation, is as wrong as it is to add anything to the message of the Gospel, we heard in the first place.
The "offense of the cross" proclaims God's unmerited grace and leaves no place for the works of men as a means of salvation. A moral, upright, good man is as lost as the worst of men if he trusts in the law to save him. Even though he may live a righteous life, he has fallen from grace and its benefits. The Galatians had been running the race of Christian testimony well at first, but now they were not running well at all. Some teach today that the baptism of infant children answers to circumcision in the Old Testament times. So, they christen children at eight days old as the Jews did with their boy babies in Israel. This is the leaven that has deceived millions into thinking they are "a child of God and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven." Some sincerely believe they will be in heaven when they die because they have been baptized. There is no connection between the cross and circumcision. One is all of God and the other is of men's desire to add their own righteousness to the cross work of Christ.
The reaction of many who call themselves Christians, to the preaching of the cross and salvation by grace alone, is persecution, rejection, animosity, and opposition. We can expect this as a common response to the preaching of the Gospel because people want to be saved in their own way. Paul was confident that truth will triumph, that the saints would be recovered and that God would deal with the false teachers in the way of His choosing. His responsibility was to expose them for who they were. It is important for us to remind believers of our liberty in Christ. Our freedom isn't freedom to sin if we want to and get away with it as false teachers sometimes suggest. It is rather a freedom to serve the Lord and people, motivated by Christian love. Paul hoped those who were agitating the believers in Galatia, would go away and consider themselves impotent with no power to propagate their teaching.
False teachers will often attack the truth of God by denying the verbal inspiration of the scriptures in their original language. Then they will attack the Person of Christ by denying His eternal Sonship, His preeminence over all things, His equality with the Father, His human, and divine nature in the one Person, and His authority with "all power in heaven and in earth." The public practice of the priesthood of all believers is offensive to them also because it places all believers equal before God and men. The silence of women in public meetings of the assembly and head coverings as a sign of submission to the headship of Christ is vigorously attacked. The giving and use of spiritual gifts for the reason God gave them is explained away and the clear presentation of the Gospel of man's ruin, God's remedy, and man's responsibility is watered down until the Gospel they preach is no more than a verbal assent to what people want to hear. Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ are seldom mentioned, and replaced with modern terms like "forming a new relationship with God," and other "seeker-friendly terms."
All the law is contained in one statement that defines the grace of God to us and to others through us. We are free to serve God acceptably and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do what He leads us to fulfill in love. By doing that, we fulfill the purpose of the law. Then we will not turn on each other but will love the Lord's people and want the best for each other. This freedom in Christ has set us free from the imposed bondage of the law, so we can serve with joy, love, and grace.