Stand Firm in Christian Liberty

Galatians 5:1-15 — Christian Liberty: Free from Law & Sin

Free from Law
Having defended the authenticity of the gospel and his apostleship in chapters 1-2 and the superiority of the gospel and the doctrine of justification by faith in chapters 3-4, the Apostle Paul, in chapters 5-6 defends Christian liberty and true freedom that can only be found in Christ. While the emphases of the first four chapters were apologetical and theological, the last two chapters are practical applications. These, however, are not just some final unrelated wisdom that the Apostle Paul appends to the end of a theological treatise. Orthodoxy (right belief) cannot be divorced from orthopraxy (right living) and vice versa. So, the instructions for right living in these last two chapters are the natural and direct conclusions of believing in justification by faith.

Galatians 4:31 is the summary of Galatians 3-4, the argument for justification by faith which was directed against Judaizing legalists who were trying to impose the law of Moses on Gentile converts. As Christians, we are the children of Abraham because, like Abraham, we are justified by faith. We are free and no longer under the yoke of the law. Being in Christ affords us Christian liberty through the grace of God working in us. Consequently, it is foolishness to return to that bondage that nullifies God's grace in our lives.

Free from Sin
The Apostle Paul, however, is no antinomian (literally, anti-law). Therefore, in Galatians 5-6, he opposes another set of false teachers, the libertines, who exploit Christian liberty to encourage the casting off of moral restraints and thus promote licentiousness (Galatians 5:13-15).

Free to love
Galatians 5-6 counter both sets of these dangerous teachers, the legalists as well as the antinomian. While the legalist wants to put the Christian under the yoke of the Law, the antinomian wants to put the Christian back under the yoke of sin. While the legalist, with his Pharisaical tendencies, lives a life of hypocrisy that lacks joy, the antinomian lives a life of licentiousness that is indistinguishable from the pagan. Nevertheless, both the legalist and the antinomian live a life that does not show love for God and others nor a life of walking in the Spirit. The Apostle Paul discusses these ideas in Galatians 5-6 but develops them even further in Romans 6-8 where he will say that the believer ought not to live under bondage to sin (Romans 6), nor under bondage to Law (Romans 7), but by walking in the Spirit (Romans 8).

Christian liberty is not a license to sin but being free to be who God created us to be, in a loving relationship with Him and others. Therefore, we must stand firm in our liberty in Christ and not let ourselves be burdened by the yoke of slavery, whether Law or sin. How do you know whether you are getting the doctrine of justification by faith correctly? It is not how much theology you can espouse nor how much Bible you know. What is the barometer? It is your love for God and others.

Are you a legalist? An antinomian?
Or, are you walking in the Spirit and in love to God and others?