Galatians 5:1–6 - The Path to Freedom

Having celebrated July 4th just two days ago, it’s providential that our next verse in our exposition of Galatians is about freedom.

As chapter 4 wraps up, Paul says that just as Abraham’s older son Ishmael persecuted the younger son Isaac, these legalistic Judaizers were persecuting the Gentile Galatian believers. The Judaizers were compelling them to trust in things in addition to Jesus Christ, trying to force the Galatians to essentially “become Jewish” by  keeping ceremonial laws of Judaism.

Some of these laws were recorded by Moses; others had been added later. They wanted the Galatians to believe that more than simply faith was necessary. Human effort was required, they said. Faith alone was not enough. Basically, if you want to know that you’ve been made right with God, you must labor.

This false teaching was producing fear, guilt, and shame. The OT book of Genesis demonstrates that Ishmael was the child brought forth by human efforts to fulfill God’s promise; Isaac was the child brought forth by God’s power, through the working of His Holy Spirit, to fulfill the promise.

And so, in Galatians 4:28, Paul says, “Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.” The promise to know and be blessed by God has come to you not by your own efforts, but by His grace through the gift of faith given to you. Therefore, Paul says, resist the persecution. Cast out your attempts and the temptation to be saved by your own effort. Resist the yoke of slavery that comes with believing that you must work for God’s love.

All of us are naturally drawn to that way of thinking – to teaching that steers our focus away from Jesus Christ. That kind of message appeals to the sinful nature within us, but it’s a life of bondage. It’s a prison. It’s oppressive; it’s constricting.

But Jesus Christ sets His people free! He frees us from the enslavement that keeps us from seeing and enjoying His majesty and sufficient power. Trusting only in Christ frees us to enjoy the gracious love of God. He frees us to enjoy the goodness of following God’s guidance for our lives.

Would you like to experience that freedom? You can, but how? Well, it should make sense that our focus must be Christ Himself. He’s our strength. So, naturally, the path to freedom is Christ-centered. Notice the outline there for you: stand firmly with Him, cling tightly to Him, and wait obediently for Him. Let’s look now at how to do that.

Notice that in verse 1 Paul writes, “stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” The Judaizers were trying to make them submit. A “yoke” was a device put on cattle to control them for labor like plowing a field. Jesus also used this figure of speech during His earthly ministry. In Matthew 11, He said, “[28] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

So we have two yokes in view: one belonging to Jesus, and one belonging to sin. The implication here is that these are the only two choices. There’s not a third choice where you can be completely autonomous and then truly free. The message here is that all people are yoked: either to sin or to Christ.

Either to what Paul in Gal. 4 calls “the elementary principles of the world” or to Jesus. Either to the heavy load of proving yourself, or to the light load of resting in who Jesus is and what He had accomplished for you. Everything other than Christ alone is some form of works-righteousness, which is how the whole, sinful world works. And the pull – away from Christ-reliance to self-reliance –is always strong in this life.

When I was in elementary school in the 1980s, the “Just Say No” campaign was born. This was how we were taught about the dangers of using drugs. And we learned about “peer pressure.” They told us to beware of the negative influence of those around us. That influence is especially powerful when we value someone’s acceptance of us.

This is part of what was happening in Galatia. These false teachers and their followers were persuasive. They were under a burden of legalism, and legalists want to increase their numbers. How do you keep from getting swept into that current? Picture a small child at the beach. Just 1 or 2 years old. Old enough to stand and walk. The ocean waves will knock over the little child. But if the child is held in the arms of an adult, he or she won’t be swept away.

Christ the Lord must hold you, or you won’t be able to stand. You must stand firm with Christ. In 2 Peter 3, the apostle Peter says, “Take care that you are not carried away with the error of [the wicked] and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Colossians 2, Paul told the churches that in Christ, “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him.” Those He saves are filled with His indwelling Holy Spirit. In Galatians 4, Paul says, “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.”

Therefore, we can know Jesus closely and personally. We can remember and rest in who He is and what He’s done for us. He took the guilt of our sin. He transferred His perfect righteousness to us. Growing in that grace and knowledge, we will stand firmly with Him.

Now look at this next section with me. Paul exclaims, “Look!” Pay attention! Think about this! He says “I” and then repeats his own name, as if he’s giving an oath. He means what he says here. This is serious. He says, “if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.” Circumcision was instituted in Genesis 17 as the covenant sign for the men of Israel. It was a sign and reminder of the covenant promise fulfilled by God’s power. God confirmed that sign at Mt. Sinai in the law given to Israel through Moses. It was the sign for entrance into the covenant community until Christ instituted baptism. After Christ came, many non-Jews were coming to faith, and circumcision was no longer commanded by God.

Now, throughout Israel’s history and certainly in the first century A.D., so many Jews believed that circumcision was proof that they were saved. But Jesus and the apostles clarified that God does not look at outward rituals. He looks at the heart.

This had always been the case. In fact, in Deut. 10 in the OT, God told the Israelites to circumcise their hearts. Humble your hearts before God. Basically, trust in Him and not yourself – in His righteousness, not your own. Outward rituals can produce a false sense of assurance if they are misunderstood. Baptism is similar in this way. It does not save or take away sin or change the heart. It’s an outward sign of what God must do within us. We are, however, commanded now to be baptized.

Circumcision, for covenant purposes, is done. That’s over. And it wouldn’t help the Galatians know God more or please Him more. Instead, in their case, it would accomplish the opposite. It would drive them further into works-righteousness. Look at verse [3], “I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.” If you believe law-keeping is necessary to have the favor of God, then understand that you must keep the whole law and keep it perfectly.

The idea that any human (other than Jesus, who was both fully human and fully God) could ever do so is utterly absurd. You have no hope but to throw yourself at the feet of the merciful one true God. And Paul makes a very thought-provoking illustration here. He says that if circumcision is reinstituted, verse [4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.” Paul knew how prone we are to rely on outward things to feel that we are righteous.

Jesus zeroed in on this wrong understanding of the Mosaic law in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Jesus confirmed the words of God to the OT prophet Samuel, when God said, “man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” To rely on the law for salvation is to forfeit grace.

Think again about the child at the beach. The adult stands firm against the waves. The adult holds the child, and so the child stands firm. But the child shouldn’t squirm and fight the adult or try to get loose to stand on his own. The child should only hold on to the adult who helps him stand against the waves. Even as we stand firm with Christ, we must cling tightly to Him.

In times of need, don’t reach for your accomplishments or abilities to comfort your soul. Don’t try to soothe your conscience with what you’ve done – accept to see it as something He did within you. Recognize only His accomplishments and ability. Cling to Him when your past haunts you. Cling to Him when the future scares you. Cling to Him when the way is dark.

Jesus is the proof that God is for you and not against you. Have you received Him by faith? Have you acknowledged yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope apart from His sovereign mercy? Believe in Jesus Christ today. He paid the debt of your sin. There is no work or ritual that you must add. Trust in nothing but Him to get you to God, because, as Paul says here, the thing that you think will “get you in” can “keep you out.”

Do you believe in Jesus Christ in this way? Call on Him to save you! Then follow Him with us, verse [5] “For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.” Now what is this hope? It’s the hope that Christ will one day return from heaven – to remove sin once and for all and to renew the heavens and the earth. It’s the hope that we will be made new, with no more struggles and pain, no more loss, no more effects of sin in our lives. It’s the hope that if He does not come to us before we die, then we will go to Him in heaven and reside there until the time of His return – after which we will – with our resurrected, immortal bodies –  live on earth in the eternal presence of the triune God.

We who know Jesus wait by faith for this. The Holy Spirit enables us to do so. He helps us wait patiently, though it is difficult. But notice the words of my third point of guidance from the Lord for living freely. We wait obediently for Christ. We obey His commands as we wait to see Him. Christ paid for all our sins – past, present, and future – but that rich and free grace is not a license to go on sinning carelessly. That would only harm us and grieve God. He sets us free to enjoy the freedom of life with Him, and that’s a life that aims to resist sin but rests in His grace when we sin – which, on this side of the grave, will happen again and again in our lives. But when it happens – when we find that we have turned again toward that bondage – we should admit it and turn again to Christ in reliance on His righteousness.

Notice verse [6] “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” Some wrongly interpret this to mean that our acts of love justify us. In other words, the work of Christ must be supplemented by our works. True faith produces love acts of love, but righteousness is imputed by faith alone. That is the theme of the whole Bible.

Verse 6 helps us understand how we are to wait for the hope of righteousness. As we stand firm with Christ and cling tightly to Him, He will produce true, God-centered love in us  – and that love will bless our hearts and minds, and it will bless God, and it will bless those around us. The freedom of faith alone will be demonstrated by our obedient acts of love.

One of my seminary professors was Dr. James Anderson. He’s a gifted theologian and scholar. He’s a minister of the gospel. He loves Christ. And he’s actually not from the United States. He was born and raised in England. I had a few classes with him, and on one or two occasions, he referenced July 4th.

Now, James had a very dry wit and sense of humor. Sort of a dead pan style. And regarding July 4th, he would say something like, “In America, you celebrate Independence Day, or as we call it in Great Britain, “Treason Day.”

I liked that! Our Founding Fathers did commit treason as they declared independence. Treason was necessary to establish freedom. Now, what is treason? It is the betrayal of the one who is sovereign over you – to establish a new sovereign. Jesus Christ leads us in a revolution against the sovereignty of sin over us, so that we can rest in freedom under the sovereignty of God. He suffered the brutal sentence of sin’s captivity so we could go free. Christ enables us to betray our sinful nature, which lords sin and death over us.

You must understand that Jesus Christ is not just our guide on the path to freedom, and He’s not just our access to the path of freedom. Jesus Christ Himself is the path to our freedom. You must believe that He is enough. Will you stand firmly with Him, cling tightly to Him, and wait obediently for Him? You might think, “I don’t know if I can.” If so, good, because you can’t, but He can. Only keep your eyes on Him each day.

Let’s bow in prayer.