Note: We
returned to our Galatians series last Sunday, as I preached on Galatians 5:1-6. Galatians has been called the “Magna
Carta” of Christian liberty. Here are
some of my notes from the exposition of Galatians 5:1:
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage”
(Galatians 5:1).
Notice first that Paul is offering an exhortation to stand
fast. The Galatians have already proven
that they were capable of slippage (cf. Gal 1:6: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from
him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel”). Now, he exhorts them to hold their
ground. He wants them to be spiritually
rooted and grounded. Grounded in
what? In liberty (eleutheria: freedom). We need to be careful here, because our
democratic, egalitarian culture can cause us to misunderstand Paul’s
sense.
Paul was not speaking here about
political liberty.
He was not talking about
psychological or emotional liberty.
He was not talking about libertinism
or spiritual anarchy—nobody can tell me what I ought to think or believe.
He was talking about the ultimate spiritual liberty
that comes through the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is what he means
when he speaks of this liberty “wherewith Christ has made us free.” What is the emphasis upon? It is upon the work of Christ. He is the Liberator.
The language here is that of the slave-market (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:21: “Art thou called being a servant? care
not for it: but if thou mayest be made free [eleutheros], use it rather.”). Christ has ransomed you who used to be slaves
to sin and who were also slaves to the burden of works righteousness.
So,
Paul exhorts the Galatians to stand fast in liberty, “and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage [douleia]”
(v. 1). Notice the continuation of the
slavery metaphor. You have been
liberated. Why would you go back to
bondage?
There
is a popular film based on the Solomon Northup book Twelve Years a Slave. It is
about a free black man who was illegally sold into slavery where he suffered
for 12 years till he escaped and won again his freedom. How would it be in the book or film if after
gaining back his freedom this man had given up his liberty and returned to his
suffering enslavement? That would be
nonsensical would it not? But this is
what Paul is saying that the Galatians had done by abandoning the gospel and
going back to the beggarly “Christ plus” religion. Paul is wanting to make them come to their
senses. To think clearly and
soberly. To stand fast in liberty.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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