成績單

When we sailed on our Wisdom Journey through the book of Exodus—which gets its name from the Greek word for exit—we watched as the Israelites miraculously exited the land of Egypt. They had spent several hundred years in hard labor as slaves. Now they were free, but it was not long before they met up with difficulty and hardship. And they soon complained that they were better off back in Egypt. The truth is, freedom is not necessarily freedom from hardship. And freedom certainly is not freedom from responsibilities in life.

The Christians living in this region called Galatia, both Jewish and Gentile believers, had been freed from spiritual bondage by the grace of God through Christ Jesus. Today we set sail in Galatians chapter 5, where Paul reveals two practical responsibilities that come with spiritual freedom.

The first responsibility is to take a stand in your spiritual freedom. He writes in verse 1, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

Christ has made them free from bondage to man-made rules and works as a means of salvation. One New Testament paraphrase puts it this way: “Take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you” (The Message).

Remember that false teachers were declaring that faith in Christ is not enough—one has to adhere to the Mosaic law, including the rite of circumcision. Paul is telling his readers to take a stand against this false teaching.

The apostle warns them, “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace” (verse 4). Paul is not saying that you can lose your salvation. He is saying that to follow the law in order to be saved severs you from the all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus. To follow rules and regulations in order to be saved is to effectively fall away from grace—that is, to miss out on the gracious gift of salvation to all who believe in Christ alone.

Paul then presents an illustration from the world of athletics. He compares the Christian life to a race in verse 7, “You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” The word he uses for “hindered” literally means to cut in on them.[1] They were doing well in the race, but then somebody cut in front of them and distracted them.

So, the Galatians are still in the race, but they are getting off course. How? By listening to false teachers who were trying to mix faith in Christ with Jewish regulations. Beloved, this kind of teaching just seems to seep through the walls of the church today. If it is not stopped, it will flood the church and turn out the lights. Paul pictures this creeping, corrupting influence as leaven, writing, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump” (verse 9). He is warning that just a little false teaching is going to corrupt the entire gospel message.

The Galatians must take a firm stand in their freedom through Christ. They must not budge an inch on the gospel of grace apart from rituals and regulations and ceremonies.

I love the way Paul now adds a word of encouragement here in verse 10:

I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty.

And notice that Paul says these troublemakers will one day bear the penalty; he does not say they will one day go away. They are never going to stop. In fact, they are after Paul as well. They are making false charges that Paul is preaching the necessity of circumcision.

Paul responds, “But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?” (verse 11). He is saying, “These false teachers would not be persecuting me if I were preaching the same thing they were—that circumcision is necessary for salvation.” Paul scoffs at this ridiculous accusation.

In fact, I believe he gets rather riled up with righteous anger over this accusation. He writes in verse 12, “I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!” In other words, if these false teachers think cutting a little foreskin away is necessary for salvation, well, then, they ought to go ahead and completely castrate themselves! That is pretty strong language, but Paul wants these believers to take a strong stand against legalism—the belief that keeping rules and regulations will get you into heaven.

So, the first responsibility is to take a firm stand in your freedom. Second, you are not to take advantage of your spiritual freedom. Paul writes, “Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh” (verse 13).

The freedom Christ gives you is not freedom to sin but freedom from sin so that you no longer live for sin.

I remember as a teenager working alongside a crew of other men, and these guys could not wait for the weekend. Frankly, they could not wait to sin. And they would come back on Monday with stories of their sinful escapades and how great it all was. The truth is, they were not free men at all; they were slaves to their own sin. They could not wait until the next weekend to do it all over again.

True freedom in Christ is not seeing how much you can sin; it is seeing how much you can serve. Paul writes here at the end of verse 13, “Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Freedom does not look for opportunities to satisfy yourself; it looks for opportunities to serve someone else.  

Paul makes an important connection in verse 14: “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Here is what he means: Freedom in Christ produces a heart of love for others that accomplishes what the law truly demanded. And here is a summary of the law: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” True freedom gives us a love for God and leads us to reject the desire to live for ourselves and our sinful pleasures.[2]

And if you love God and others like that, you are not going to “bite and devour one another” (verse 15). Instead, Paul writes, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (verse 16).

What exactly does it mean to “walk by the Spirit”? That sounds kind of mystical and subjective.

Well, back in John’s Gospel, there in the upper room, Jesus repeatedly described the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of truth” (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13). The Spirit leads us into truth. And as Jesus said in His prayer in John 17:17, God’s Word, the Bible, is truth.

So, here is what Paul means: to “walk by the Spirit” is to walk in submission to the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to apply biblical truth to life. Let me say that again: to walk by the Spirit is to walk in submission to the Holy Spirit who empowers us to apply biblical truth to life.

Everything we need to know about living for Christ, serving Christ, and serving and loving others has been given to us in Scripture. Our problem is not a lack of information but unwillingness to make application of God’s Word to our lives.

So, let’s ask the Holy Spirit today to empower us to apply what we already know, and then teach us even more of what we need to know, not simply for the purpose of information, but of application—applying God’s truth to life.