Galatians Chapter 5:1-15/Commentary

Galatians Chapter 5:1-15

Outline: I.

Christian Liberty Lost: 5:1-6

II.

Influence of False Teachers and Accusations Against Paul: 5:7-12

III.

Christian Liberty is not License to Sin: 5:13-18

IV.

Practical Application: One can tell if one is Free or in Bondage: 5:19-26

“The Epistle to the Galatians is an Epistle in which Paul plunges headlong into controversy. And these verses at the beginning of Galatians 5 are in keeping with the tenor of the whole Epistle. It is a paragraph of contrasts in which the apostle sets over against each other two opinions or outlooks, indeed virtually two religions, one false and the other true. He draws the contrast twice, first (verses 1-6) from the standpoint of those who practice these two religions, and secondly (verses 7-12) from the standpoint of those who preach them” (Stott p. 131). “First, he has argued in chapters 1 and 2 from history, from what all men knew to have taken place. His own experience and the experience of the Galatians were known to all--however some might try to explain them. Paul's relations with the Jerusalem church were an open book which all men might read. Secondly, he has argued in chapters 3 and 4 from theology, or rather from Scripture. He has established beyond doubt that such retrograde teaching is contradicted by the very Torah which they claimed to teach.

Promise and fulfillment meet in the Church. But there still remains one very powerful argument. This is the moral argument, the appeal to the total inward moral change brought about by the gospel. In these last two chapters Paul will 1

hammer this home in order to clinch the matter. But he does not merely have the Judaizers in mind when he stresses the moral obligations and fruits of the gospel; he also does it lest his preaching of ‘freedom’ be misinterpreted as ‘antinomianism’ (the doctrine that faith alone; not obedience to the moral law; is necessary for salvation) by the Galatians. If liberty becomes license, then the worst suspicions of the Judaizers would be true and the last state of the Galatians worse than the first” (Cole p. 137).

Galatians 5:1 “For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage” “For freedom”: “For the (article) freedom that belongs to us children of the freewoman” (4:31) (Robertson p. 309). “This verse is in the nature of a ‘bridge verse’ or ‘transition’ paragraph. It is on the one hand a summary of 4:21-31 and on the other an introduction to the exhortations of chapter 5. The freedom referred to is freedom from subservience to the law, ‘the freedom belonging to the heir” (Fung p. 216). “Deissmann records that the phrase for freedom was extremely well known, found in numerous documents for the freeing of slaves. The procedure called for a slave to save up enough money, and then to have the local temple use that money to buy him from the owner. The slave was then the property of the god, and no man could lay any claim against him. On the wall of the temple it would be recorded that ‘for freedom’ the god had purchased the slave” (Boles pp. 123-124). The "freedom" in this context is freedom from the bondage of the Law of Moses, thus freedom from the demand of flawless law-keeping to remain right with God. In Christ we have access to forgiveness through prayer and repentance (1 John 1:82:2).

“Did Christ set us free”: “Christ has made us completely free” (Wey). “Christ really did free us” (Lenski p. 250). “Conversion as an act of emancipation and the Christian life as a life of freedom” (Stott p. 132). “Us”: “Converts had all alike, whether Jews or Greeks, been under bondage, all had been set free by Christ” (Gr. Ex. N.T. p. 183).

Christians are "free indeed" (John 8:36) It is a sad fact, that many people, even some Christians, view Christianity as a restrictive and burdensome lifestyle. Christ has set us free from a guilty conscience, superstition, myths, fables, wrong ideas. He has set us free from peer pressure and following the crowd. We have been set free from many damaging and ignorant ideas concerning human relationships, and from sinful and addictive habits that were harmful. We have also been liberated from bitter, 2

resentful, angry and feelings of self-pity (1 Peter 3:10-12). “Stand fast therefore”: This “is a present imperative to emphasize the need of continuing to stand, holding to a whole-hearted assurance that in Christ Jesus our freedom is complete” (Willis p.

228). “Stay free since Christ set you free” (Robertson p. 309). “Entangled again in a yoke of bondage”: “Subject again to a yoke of slavery” (NASV). “The picture seems to be of an ox bowed down by a heavy yoke” (Stott p. 132). The term again clearly teaches that Christians can lapse back into sin, and Christians can exchange one former yoke of slavery (in this instance paganism) for another yoke (Judaism). More than one "yoke" of bondage exists in the world. All religions, other than Christianity are "yokes of bondage", because they fail to save (Acts 4:12). In these context the "yoke of bondage" that these Christians are starting to put their necks under is the Law of Moses (Acts 15:10).

Galatians 5:2 “Behold, I Paul say unto you, that, if ye receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing” “Behold”: “Imperative singular, appealing to each individual reader” (Vincent p.

155). “Mark my words” (NEB). “I Paul say unto you”: “It is not some obscure teacher who speaks, or just another insignificant opinion to which they listen. It is Paul an apostle” (Boles p. 125). “Asserting his personal authority” (Vincent p. 155).

See 1 Corinthians 14:37. “He speaks with the full weight of apostolic authority” (Erdman p. 109).

“If ye receive circumcision”: “The tenses of the verbs are very important in this passage. This implies that they have not already taken the step but are considering it” (Cole p. 139). Paul is not specifically addressing Christians of a Jewish background, for they would have already been circumcised (as infants). Rather he is addressing Christians of a Gentile background who the Judaizers were pressuring to accept circumcision and the Law of Moses as a means of gaining favor with God. There is nothing wrong with circumcision per se, i.e. as a surgical procedure. Yet being circumcised in the attempt to gain acceptance or favor with God, is the type of circumcision being condemned in these verses. In addition, more is being demanded by these Judaizers that just circumcision (5:4).

“Christ will profit you nothing”: “Will be no benefit to you” (NASV). “Will be of no use to you at all” (Phi). “The question with the Galatians was circumcision as a condition of salvation (Acts 15:1). It was a choice between salvation by law and 3

salvation by Christ. The choice of the law involved a relinquishment of Christ” (Vincent p. 155). “Even Paul, the circumcised Jew proud of all his background and traditions (Philippians 3:4-6), tells them that circumcision is of no avail. Who more than he should know its value? Paul is never anti-Jewish even when he is in his most controversial moods. Romans 9-11 shows his general position clearly, Israel never had a man who loved her more dearly than Paul unless it was Jesus of Nazareth (Luke 19:41) even such a Jewish patriot sees clearly the comparative unimportance of circumcision” (Cole p. 139). “But is Paul's statement true? The Judaizers did not give up Christ and did not ask the Galatians to do so. They merely mixed the gospel with their Mosaic legalism and asked the Galatians to do the same” (Lenski p. 254).

“You might think this is a very trivial matter. After all, circumcision is only a very minor surgical operation on the body. Why did Paul make so much fuss and bother about it? Because of its doctrinal implications. As the false teachers were pressing it, circumcision was neither a physical operation, nor a ceremonial rite (Acts 15:1,5).

They were thus declaring that faith in Christ was insufficient for salvation.

Circumcision and law-obedience must to added to it. This was tantamount to saying that Moses must be allowed to finish what Christ had begun” (Stott p. 133).

From this statement some logical conclusions must be drawn: If adding circumcision to the gospel, cuts one off from Christ, then most certainly adding the observance of the Sabbath day would. The same language applied to the Sabbath Day, was also applied to the practice of circumcision, i.e. an everlasting covenant (Exodus 31:16; Genesis 17:9-13). The Adventists and others argue that the Patriarchs observed the Sabbath Day prior to the Law of Moses (in the attempt to prove that it is an eternal law) which is wrong (Nehemiah 9:13-14). Yet we know as a fact, they did observe the practice of circumcision, which was commanded of them (Genesis 17).

Therefore circumcision looks more like an eternal regulation than the Sabbath day does, even from the Old Testament. But Paul says accepting circumcision as a condition of salvation, cuts one off from Christ!

Note: Paul never says, “If you receive repentance as a condition for salvation, Christ will profit you nothing”. Or, “if you receive baptism, as a condition for salvation, Christ will profit you nothing”. Why? Because those things are conditions for salvation (Acts 2:38).

Galatians 5:3 “Yea, I testify again to every man that receiveth circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law” 4

“I testify again”: “Affirming the truth of his words with a strong asseveration ‘you can take it from me’” (Fung p. 221). “His words take on the character of a declaration under oath in a court of law. Paul's lawyer's training, apart altogether from his Jewish background, would not allow him to use such a phrase lightly.

Normally in his Epistles such an introduction marks a point of more than usual weight and moment” (Cole p. 139). “To every man”: It does not matter "who" they are. This “brings out the fact that what Paul testifies to the Galatians is true for every Christian no matter when or where he may be living” (Lenski pp. 255-256).

“Receiveth circumcision”: As a means of justification or condition of salvation. “He is a debtor”: Circumcision does not make one "better", it actually makes one a "debtor". ”Lays himself under obligation to fulfill the whole Law” (Con). “To do the whole Law”: The entire Law of Moses, the whole of the covenant given at Mount Sinai (3:19; 4:24). Paul does not divide up the Law given at Sinai into "law of Moses" and "law of God", or "ceremonial law" and "moral” or “eternal law". The law was a package. “The law of Moses was never presented as a legal smorgasbord from which its followers could make their selections according to personal preference (3:10; Deuteronomy 27:26). The law pronounced a curse on those who did not uphold all the commands, all the time” (Boles p. 126). “Paul may be hammering home the logical implications of circumcision of which they had been fully informed by the agitators but had not taken sufficient account. Circumcision is the seal of the law. He who willingly and deliberately undergoes circumcision, enters upon a compact to fulfill the law. To fulfill it therefore he is bound, and he cannot plead the grace of Christ; for he had entered on another mode of justification” (Fung pp. 222223).

Galatians 5:4 “Ye are severed from Christ, ye would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace” “Ye are severed from Christ”: “Cut off from Christ” (Con). “Automatically cut yourself off from” (Phi). “Your relation with Christ is completely severed” (NEB).

“Severed”: “The basic idea is, ‘to make idle, inactive’, so that nothing results; the preposition adds the idea that this actions removes ‘away from Christ’” (Lenski p.

257). “To make null and void” (Robertson p. 309). “The full significance is this: ‘Ye are made nothing as Christians; ye cease to be Christians; your relations to Christ are cancelled’” (Erdman p. 110). “To be ‘alienated’ meant that a relationship was nullified. Compare the use of the same word in Romans 7:2-6, where death has 5

nullified a woman's former relation which her husband” (Boles p. 127). “Ye who would be justified by the Law”: Those attempting to find salvation by observing the Law of Moses or even part of it. “Ye are fallen from grace”: “You have fallen out of the domain of God's grace” (NEB). “You put yourself outside the range of His grace” (Phi). “You have deserted grace” (Mof). Notice that these Christians were not merely in danger of falling from God’s favor, they already had fallen. And what caused their fall was not engaging in some sort of immorality, but rather, believing false doctrine. The blood of Christ did not continue to cleanse them automatically.

Galatians 5:5 “For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness” “For we”: In contrast to those who are trying to find salvation based on observing the Law of Moses. “Through the Spirit by faith”: The Holy Spirit revealed the object in which our faith must be centered (Romans 10:17; Ephesians 3:3-5). The Spirit has also revealed all the great promises that await the person who obediently trusts in Christ (1 Peter 1:4). “The Holy Spirit has revealed to us the hope of righteousness and the means of obtaining it through faith in Christ, separate and apart from obedience to the Law of Moses” (Willis p. 234). The person who believes and acts upon this revelation is living by faith and is patiently waiting for the hope of righteousness. “Wait”: To expect fully. “Christians eagerly await a Savior (Philippians 3:20); Christ (Hebrews 9:28), adoption and redemption (of the physical body) (Romans 8:23), and the revealing of the sons of God (8:19)” (Boles p. 128). “For the hope of righteousness”: “That we may be pronounced righteous as the result of faith” (TCNT). Even though the Christian is declared righteous upon conversion (Romans 4:5-8), there is still a sense that righteousness is still yet future, that is, just like eternal life is still future (Titus 1:2). “Which takes the phrase to denote the hope of final acquittal in the last judgment, when God's verdict will be publicly pronounced” (Fung p. 224). “The expectation for the future which our justification brings, namely spending eternity with Christ in heaven” (Stott p. 134).

Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love” “In Christ Jesus”: The relation one enters by faith and baptism (3:26-27). “Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision”: “Neither circumcision nor the want of it counts for anything” (Gspd). “Means nothing” (Knox). “Availeth”: “Has 6

any significance or practical power” (Vincent p. 158). In God's sight, there is no merit in either condition. He will not allow the Gentile to boast of his uncircumcised state, any more than he will allow the Jew to boast of the sign of the covenant. Both states are now irrelevant in Christ” (Cole p. 143). This still is a very offensive statement to those in Judaism, yet Christians must speak the truth (Ephesians 4:25).

One of the best "Jews" that Israel ever had, made this statement! “To imagine that circumcision is effective is to hug a delusion” (Lenski p. 260). Obviously, God's purpose with physical Israel is over. If the Apostles said to Jews and Gentiles alike, circumcision does not matter any more, then obviously they understood that God's dealings with physical Israel (the circumcised) was through. Because, if God still had a plan for physical Jews, then it would still be necessary to practice circumcision, so they remained a distinctive ethnic group.

“But faith working”: “Acting” (Gspd). “Faith active in love” (Mof). “Faith that finds its expression in love” (Knox). “A faith which issues in love” (Stott p. 134). “Faith active in love” (Cole p. 144). “Expressing itself in love. The faith which operates through love is clearly the same as the faith which justifies” (Fung p. 229). Well what does "faith working through love" look like? Compare with 1 Corinthians 7:19 “but keeping the commandments of God”. “The faith through which we are justified is not barren intellectual understanding. No man soberly reading the rest of the Epistle could seriously say that there is any conflict between James and Paul on the nature of faith” (Cole p. 144). "Through love" as defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

Many people claim to have "faith", but their "faith" results in excuses, immorality, and the addition of human rules and traditions to Christianity. The only faith that is worth anything to God is a faith that results in loving obedience to Him (1 John 2:46). This faith that works The following verses (5:13-26) more precisely define what is not and what is a faith working through love. Christians who cause selfish divisions in the church, do not have such a faith (5:15). Christians who engage in immorality do not have such a faith (5:19). Christians believe false doctrine do not have such a faith either (5:20).

Or Christians who place themselves and their own selfish desires over the needs of their brethren (5:20). Christians who lack joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are lacking such faith as well (5:22-23).

The spotlight on false teachers

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Galatians 5:7 “Ye were running well; who hindered you that ye should not obey the truth?”

“Ye were running well”: “You were doing splendidly” (Mof). “You were making such progress!” (Gspd). Christians can serve God acceptably and one can make real progress in serving Him and developing the fruit of the Spirit. “Paul loved to liken the Christian life to a race in the arena” (Stott p. 135). Compare with 1 Corinthians 9:25-27; 2 Timothy 2:5; 4:7. “Who”: False doctrine does not arise in a vacuum, someone must develop and spread it (1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 2:17-18). “Hindered”: “Obstructed” (Cole p. 145). “To impede. It is taken from the military practice of making slits in the street to hold up a pursuing enemy” (Willis p. 237). “Later the word seems to have been used also in an athletic context, as one runner might ‘cut in on’ another runner, making the runner break stride and even fall” (Boles p. 130).

Paul is not afraid to put the spotlight on someone teaching error. Who hindered you, is intended the focus the Galatians attention on the false teachers among them.

False teaching is never an innocent thing, it always hinders individual Christians and the local congregation.

“Should not obey the truth?”: Which is equivalent to saying, “That ye should not obey the gospel” (Romans 10:16). This reminds us that merely mentally accepting the truth of the gospel will not save (John 12:42-43). The gospel must be obeyed (Hebrews 5:9; 1 Peter 1:22-25). “Notice that to run well in the Christian race is not just to believe the truth (as if Christianity were nothing but orthodoxy), nor just to behave well (as if it were just moral uprightness), but to ‘obey the truth’, applying belief to behavior” (Stott p. 135).

Galatians 5:8 “This persuasion came not of Him that calleth you” “This persuasion”: This recent persuasion to go back to the Law of Moses. “Came not”: Did not originate from. “Of Him that calleth you”: That is, God (1:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:14). So seeing that this teaching did not come from God, where did it come from? If God did not advocate this teaching, "who" started it? “It had its inspiration in human ignorance or pride or envy or malice” (Erdman p. 112). False doctrine originates in the realm of evil (John 8:44). We cannot allow people to attribute all religious doctrines to God. We must have the courage, like Paul to plainly state that certain teachings have their beginnings in evil (1 Timothy 4:1ff).

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Galatians 5:9 “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” “A very few of these Judaizing intruders are sufficient to corrupt the whole church” (Vincent p. 160). False teaching, unchallenged will always spread (Titus 1:9-11). A seemingly small "error" can cause a tremendous amount of damage. No error is truly insignificant. “Which serves to picture the influence of apparently insignificant factors in the moral and spiritual sphere” (Cole p. 146). Paul places false doctrine on the same level with immorality, neither can be tolerated among God’s people.

Compare 1 Corinthians 5:6 with Galatians 5:9. The very beginnings of religious error must be resisted. “The Judaizers were not so foolish as to unload their entire doctrine upon the Galatians at one time; they injected it little by little. Paul refers to the little leaven that had already been injected, the fact that the Galatians had begun to observe times (4:10) although they had not as yet yielded to circumcision.

This proverb should be death of doctrinal indifference. But many still imagine that a little deviation from the truth of the gospel will do no harm to them and to those who hear them. They even pride themselves on harboring at least some deviation” (Lenski pp. 266-267).

Galatians 5:10 “I have confidence to you-ward in the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be” “I have confidence to you-ward in the Lord”: This is no blindly optimistic confidence. Paul expresses the same type of confidence towards other Christians who had gotten off track, yet such confidence is always tied to something tangible, that is, some sort of good response from such Christians (Hebrews 6:9-10). “Will be none otherwise minded”: “Adopt no other view” (NASV). That is, adopt no other view that the one which Paul preached. Notice, God commanded Christians to adopt the exact same views preached by the apostles. Their writings constitute the Christian life for all time. Paul knew that all Christians could see the truth alike. He believed that what he wrote was so clear that all those interested in the truth could see it (Ephesians 3:4). “Christians, then and now, must always be open to the instructions of God's will, and upon receiving the instruction, be of the same mind as the inspired writers” (Denton Lectures. 1986 p. 187). “He that troubleth you”: “To disturb, unsettle, throw into confusion” (Willis p. 240). False doctrine can never establish real peace in a congregation. Unity is never the product of doctrinal diversity, rather unity in diversity also results in worldly attitudes and worldly 9

compromise.

“Shall bear his judgment”: That is, the judgment pronounced in 1:6-9. “Whosoever he be”: Paul is not being vague because he is afraid to name the specific false teachers, because he did named names in other letters (1 Timothy 1:20; 2 Timothy 2:17). Instead, “the indefinite clause is intended for any disturber. Every disturber of the Galatians shall bear his judgment. Excuses, pleas of good intentions, etc., shall not avail. It is no light thing to scatter the leaven of false doctrine, it never was” (Lenski p. 268). “Paul is fearlessly proclaiming that neither he nor God will be afraid to condemn these people for their error” (Boles p. 131).

An Accusation Confronted Galatians 5:11 “But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then hath the stumbling-block of the cross been done away” “If I still preach circumcision”: The accusation seems to be that Paul secretly taught circumcision when among a Jewish audience, and that he was a men-pleaser, altering his message to the whims of those he preached. In addition, this accusation may have arisen from Paul having Timothy (a Jewish convert) circumcised, who was a resident of Galatia (Acts 16:1-3). “Still”: When Paul was a Pharisee in Judaism, most definitely he had advocated circumcision. “Why am I still persecuted?”: No matter what the false teachers said about Paul's "personal beliefs" and regardless of how they tried to twist the truth concerning Timothy's circumcision, why, if he agrees with them (as they allege) are they and others still persecuting him? The very fact that "Jewish riots follow Paul across Asia Minor like a trail of brushfires" (Cole p. 150), should have been proof enough for anyone that Paul clearly did not preach the central concern of the Jewish faith, that is, circumcision. In fact, the objective proof demands that we conclude, that since Paul became a Christian, he taught a consistent view of circumcision, the same view as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 7:19 and Galatians 5:6. See also Acts 9:22-23; 13:50; 14:2,19-20; 17:59,13; 21:27-28:31. “Then”: “If I did, the preaching of the cross would no longer give offence” (Knox). “Stumbling-block”: “The staggering nature of the cross” (Cole p.

150). “That which gives offense or causes revulsion, that which arouses opposition” (Willis p. 242). The Jews stumbled at the message of the gospel, because such a message said that human ancestry was not a sure ticket to heaven. The Law of Moses (which the Jewish religion took pride in), with all its rites, including 10

circumcision, could not save. The Messiah had not come to deliver the Jewish nation from physical oppression, but rather from sin, and the Jewish person outside of Christ was no better than the Gentile they had learned to despise.

The persecution Paul was still suffering at the hands of the Jewish people, (and the Judaizing teachers) was proof positive, that his gospel had never contained the need to be circumcised. This indicates that many more Jews may have become Christians if God had just compromised on the point of circumcision and observing the Law of Moses, yet God does not compromise the truth in order to boost the number of converts. God never has been interested in "numbers" at the expense of doctrinal compromise (2 Timothy 4:2-4).

Galatians 5:12 “I would that they that unsettle you would even go beyond circumcision” “They that unsettle you”: The Judaizing teachers. “Would even go beyond circumcision”: “Instead of merely amputating the foreskin, would castrate themselves, as heathen priests do. Perhaps that would be even a more powerful help to salvation” (Vincent p. 162). Relying on circumcision to gain favor with God, puts one on the same level with the heathen. “That Galatians had, in fact, witnessed such a perversion in a local religion devoted to the goddess Cybele. Men who wished to serve Cybele as her priests would work themselves into a frenzy with dancing and wine, then take a knife and castrate themselves. Normal people (as God as well, Deuteronomy 23:1) would instinctively see this as horribly inappropriate” (Boles p. 133). “The language is strong, but it is not a coarse jest. It is designed to set circumcision in its true light as one of the many ritual cuttings and markings practiced in the ancient world” (Cole p. 151). “Some commentators treat the language of Paul as worthy of condemnation because it is too stern and severe.

Hendriksen remarked, ‘Instead of saying, “Shame on you, Paul, for wishing such a thing!” should we not rather say, “Shame on ourselves, that when in our own day and age the soundness of the gospel is being sacrificed upon the altar of ecumenism, and when ever so many people are being led astray by a so-called gospel that recognizes no contrast being saved and unsaved, but only 'the brotherhood of all men'--our own cheeks have lost the ability to glow with righteous indignation” (Willis p. 206).

Stott offers the following comments on this section of Scripture: “Ours is an age of 11

tolerance. Men love to have the best of both worlds and hate to be forced to choose. It is commonly said that it does not matter what people believe so long as they are sincere, and that it is unwise to clarify issues too plainly or to focus them too sharply. But the religion of the New Testament is vastly different from this mental outlook. Christianity will not allow us to sit on the fence or live in a haze; it urges us to be definite and decisive” (pp. 137-138).

The Right Use of Christian Liberty Like other epistles, a strong doctrinal section (3-4), is followed by a practical section.

(Romans 12:1ff; Ephesians 4:1ff; Philippians 4:1ff), “And points to an important truth: doctrine is the foundation on which Christian life is to be lived and life is the sphere in which these doctrinal truths are to be applied” (Fung p. 243).

Galatians 5:13 “For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another” “Called for freedom”: (5:1). “This is what it means to be a Christian, and it is tragic that the average man does not know it. The popular imagine of Christianity today is not freedom at all, but a cruel and cramping bondage” (Stott p. 140). As we noted before, Christianity contains a tremendous amount of liberation. Freedom from guilt, worry, peer pressure, fear, superstition, the oppressive opinions of human religious bodies, ignorance and self-destructive attitudes and behaviors. “Only”: “What are the implications of Christian freedom? Does it include freedom from every kind of restraint and restriction? Is Christian liberty another word for anarchy?

Having asserted that we have been called to liberity he immediately sets himself to define the freedom to which we have been called, to clear it of misconceptions and to protect it from irresponsible abuse” (Stott p. 140). “It is easy to mistake liberty for license. Men who clamor for freedom are often seeking anarchy. They wish to do as they please and not to do as they ought. They desire deliverance from all moral restraint” (Erdman p. 116). Yet license is not freedom, rather it's just another form of bondage (Romans 1:18-32; 2 Peter 2:18-19; Titus 3:3).

“Use”: A term denoting free will. “Not your freedom for”: “An opportunity for selfindulgence” (TCNT). “Occasion”: “A bridgehead. Means originally, ‘the starting point or base of operations for an expedition’; hence ‘springboard would be another possible translation” (Cole p. 154). “Used in military contexts for a place from which 12

an offensive is launched. It therefore means a vantage-ground, and so an opportunity or pretext. Christian freedom is freedom from sin, not freedom to sin.

It is an unrestricted liberty of approach to God as His children (Hebrews 4:14-16), not an unrestricted liberty to wallow in our own selfishness” (Stott p. 140). “The flesh”: We know that the human body is not inherently sinful because Jesus possessed a human body yet did not sin (Romans 8:3; Hebrews 4:15). The following are what I consider to be some good definitions of the word "flesh" as here used: The flesh is linked with sin, because the "body" is often the instrument used by sin.

“It denotes all those tendencies and appetites and dispositions which lead to wrong conduct--all evil impulses” (Erdman p. 119). “There are many such slaves in our society today. They proclaim their freedom with a loud voice. They speak of free love and a free live; but in reality they are slaves to their own appetites to which they give free rein, simply because they cannot control them” (Stott p. 141). “People who spend their lives trying to satisfy every fleshly appetite find out this phony freedom is even worse than bondage to rules” (Boles p. 134). “As freedom mounts, so does the responsibility for its use” (Lenski p. 274). See Luke 12:47-48.

“But through love”: Love as defined in such passages as 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

“Serve one another”: “Be slaves of” (Cole p. 155). “The irony of true freedom is that it is found in servitude” (Bole p. 134). The truest freedom is freedom from your own selfish desires and arrogance. “It is freedom to approach God without fear, not freedom to exploit my neighbor without love” (Stott p. 141). “We are not to use them as if they were things to serve us; we are to respect them as persons sacrificing our good for theirs, not theirs for ours” (Stott pp. 141-142). “It has been suggested that ‘it is the necessity of commitment and the difficulties of maintaining human relationships that cause Paul to describe the free exercise of love as a form of mutual enslavement’” (Fung p. 245).

Galatians 5:14 “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” “For”: Proving the validity of the last statement, that Christian freedom means "serving others in their best spiritual interest". “The whole law”: “The law considered as a unit--the law taken as a whole” (Fung p. 245). “Is fulfilled”: Or summed up. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”: Quotation from Leviticus 19:18, also quoted by Jesus (Matthew 22:39). While the Christian is no longer under a system that demands flawless law keeping or else, the Christian is still under law 13

(James 1:25), and the morality of the New Testament is not that much different from the morality of the Old Testament. Serving your fellow Christian in his or her best spiritual interest is simply another way of saying, "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Keeping this goal central and of first priority will result in our respecting every moral law found in the Scriptures. “Faithful brotherhood is practiced when one seeks the good of his brother to the same basic degree that he seeks his own good. No one is in fact seeking the good of his neighbor while binding on him anything not bound by God; and no one is in fact seeking the good of his neighbor while he holds to a brand of morality that victimizes his brother” (1986 Denton Lectures. p. 192).

We must notice carefully what the apostle writes. He does not say, as some of the ‘new moralists’ are saying, that if we love one another we can safely break the law in the interests of love, but that if we love one another we shall fulfill the law.

Everyone who has been truly set free by Jesus Christ expresses his liberty in these three ways, first in self-control, next in loving service to his neighbor, and thirdly in obedience to the law of his God” (Stott pp. 142-144).

Galatians 5:15 “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another” “But”: Some see in this verse and 5:26 as inferring that the churches in Galatia due to the influence of the false teachers also found themselves embroiled in strife. The following is what happens when "love" is lacking in a congregation. “Bite”: The tense is keep on biting, the very opposite of serving through love. “Strong expressions of partisan hatred exerting itself for mutual injury” (Vincent p. 163).

“The word bite pictures the fierce and cruel manner of their contentions; devour indicates the destruction in which these result” (Erdman p. 118). “Devour”: “But if you go on fighting one another tooth and nail, all you can expect is mutual destruction” (NEB). This verse is very revealing. Congregations in which members have really applied 5:13-14, cannot divide easily. “Freely to slave for each other is to conserve each other--to let the flesh (5:13) have its way is to be consumed by each other” (Lenski p. 278). “Consumed”: “The basic idea seems to be that nothing at all remains” (Cole p. 158).

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