THE BOOK OF GALATIANS – CHAPTER 5:1-6 MESSAGE 17 – IN THE LONG RUN IT IS GRACE AND FAITH, ONLY THOSE, BUT STAND FIRM ON THAT FACT
[A]. VERSE 1 - KEEP STANDING FIRM IN FREEDOM AND DO NOT YIELD
{{Galatians 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore KEEP STANDING FIRM and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”}}
There are two matters Paul deals with in this verse – the first is that all that the Lord Jesus Christ did for us, He did to give us freedom. How terrible we were in the slave market of sin, all bound up. On Calvary the Lamb of God died to set us free. Sin is so horrible and it binds people up in chains and keeps them chained.
This is an awful world with people chained in poverty, and under suppression, chained in addiction, and chained up by refusal to turn to Jesus Christ for salvation.
However the Galatians were Christians but had come under the slavery of those binding them up in keeping the Law, with the Sabbath and circumcision. Paul demands the Galatians stand firm. They had put their necks again into the yokes of slavery. Christ set them free so what are they doing returning to bondage?
Christians are just the same in the matter of freedom. Delivered by the Lord from sin and being saved means that we must live in freedom. Yet Christians put themselves into bondage, sometimes in little things, sometimes in more serious things, but it is all the yoke of slavery. We must examine our behaviour, the things we practice and things that have become habits, to see that we are not in bondage. They are matters of personal bondage and addiction. Even Christians can get into bondage with alcohol, p*rnography, gambling, sport, and almost anything that sours our testimony and freedom in the Lord.
Yet another bondage afflicts Christians. Some of the denominational leaders have put their people into bondage so that they become slaves to a system and to a denomination. Beware of that also. Many are bound in legalistic and lifeless systems because they have surrendered their freedom to men. Stand firm and submit not to any form of slavery, personal, peer pressure, or denominational. Some try to put their people under bondage to memberships and constitutions. I have seen that.
Paul says we are to keep standing firm and that is an everyday matter. Don’t let the evil of bondage catch you by surprise. Keep on the alert. This was particularly galling to the Galatians because they had gone from the bondage of paganism to the bondage of the Law.
[B]. VERSES 2 AND 3 – REVERTING TO THE LAW WILL BE ONE’S UNDOING
{{Galatians 5:2 “Behold I, Paul, say to you that IF YOU RECEIVE CIRCUMCISION, Christ will be of no benefit to you,
Galatians 5:3 and I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation TO KEEP THE WHOLE LAW.”}}
VERSE 2 is where Paul tells them that circumcision will be of no benefit to these Galatians whatever. Receiving circumcision for medical reasons or some other reason is one thing, BUT to go ahead and comply with circumcision thinking you will get some spiritual benefit from it, is a worthless endeavour. It will amount to nothing.
Another thing to emerge here is that Paul himself uses his apostolic authority “I, Paul” – the one they loved and would have given him their eyes. Maybe some Galatians had been circumcised but some were still considering, and Paul uses the conditional tense. The terms are spelt out – Law OR rejection of Christ. No one could submit to the Law and trust Christ at the same time. This is a serious divide.
Imagine a situation where a person says he will keep the Law, but where he fails in a part of the Law, then in that part he will trust Christ. This verse overrules that false thinking. The Law has been put to rest by the cross and has no demand over the Christian; none whatever. {{1 Corinthians 7:18-19 “Was any man called already circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised.” “CIRCUMCISION IS NOTHING, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.”}}
The group known as Seventh Day Adventists are the modern false teachers of the Galatians. They put people under the Law by entering a place where a church is already established like it was in Galatia, and turn it away from the freedom in Christ.
VERSE 3 sets out a worse case. Once a person submits to some legal aspect under the Mosaic Law then the obligation is to the keeping of the WHOLE Law. These Galatians may have held to the Sabbath and/or circumcision and certain days, but once they commenced that journey they were obligated to the whole lot.
