Galatians 5 Verses 1 to 15 Called to Be Free March 10, 2024

Galatians 5 Verses 1 to 15 Called to Be Free March 10, 2024

Lesson 10 in A Cry for Freedom

Class Presentation Notes AAAA

Background Scriptures:

· John 14:7-15 (NKJV)

Main Idea:

· Grace set us free—but we are not free to sin. We are free to serve.

Study Aim:

· To understand that even though, as a Christian, I am forgiven of my sin, I still must face the consequences of my sin in this life.

Create Interest:

· To Paul all that mattered was faith which works through love. That is just another way of saying that the essence of Christianity is not law but a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. The Christian’s faith is founded not on a book but on a person; its dynamic is not obedience to any law but love Jesus Christ with your heart, mind, and soul.

· Once, the Galatians had known that, but now they were turning back to the law. “A little leaven,” said Paul, “leavens the whole lump.” For the Jew leaven nearly always stood for evil influence. What Paul is saying is, “This legalistic movement may not have gone very far yet, but you must root it out before it destroys your whole religion.[1]

Lesson in Historical Context:

· Paul declares that the purpose of Christ’s work was for freedom. The concept of freedom, which is a basic theme of Galatians, is connected throughout Paul’s letters primarily with freedom from:

o freedom from the law (Rom. 7:3–4),

o from sin (Rom. 6:18–22),

o from death (Rom. 8:2).

o Freedom is also equated with the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17) and is used as a way to describe the Christian life (Gal. 2:4).

· Throughout the letter Paul has described the adding of law to faith and the Galatians’ former life (4:8–9) as enslavement,which is why he can warn that the Galatians’ attraction to the rival evangelists’ message will mean that they are slaves once again.[2]

· Vs. 5:1 is the application of the allegorical interpretation we studied in the last part of Chapter 4. It is a triumphant assertion of liberty, a ringing summons to its defense. “Christ set us free,” Paul declares; “and it was for freedom—not that we might fall under a new servitude.

· Stand fast therefore; do not let yourselves be made bondmen over again.” Bondmen the Galatians had been before (4:8), bowing down to false and vile gods. Bondmen they will be again, if they are beguiled by the Legaliststo accept the yoke of circumcision, if they take “the Jerusalem that now is” for their mother. (Hagar represented that mother and it never worked out!)

· They have tasted the joys of freedom; they know what it is to be sons of God, heirs of His kingdom and partakers of His Spirit;

o Why do they bend lower from their high estate?

o Why should Christ’s freemen put a yoke upon their own neck?

· Let them only know their happiness and security in Christ and refuse to be cheated out of the substance of their spiritual blessings by the illusive shadows which the Judaists offer them.

o Freedom once gained is a prize never to be lost. No care, no vigilance in its preservation can be too great. Such liberty inspires courage and good hope in its defense. “Stand fast therefore.”[3]

§ Let us join Paul and be determined to follow his lead.

Bible Study:

Galatians 5:1 (NKJV) 1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

· When a person believes in Jesus Christ, he is freed from the law and its enslaving power. He no longer must worry if he is good enough, if he has done enough good works, or if he has kept enough laws to be acceptable to God. Why?

o Because Christ has fulfilled the law for him. When Christ was on earth, He was sinless; He obeyed the law perfectly, never violating it a single time. Therefore, He secured the Ideal Righteousness and stood before God as the Perfect Man.

o But Christ did something else much more wonderful. It was not enough for the Ideal Righteousness to be secured for man. There was also the problem of the penalty of the law; once the law had been broken, the penalty had been enacted; it had to be paid. This is the glorious message of the cross—what the death of Jesus Christ is all about.

§ Jesus Christ not only secured the ideal righteousness for us, He took the penalty for our trespassing upon Himself and bore it. Jesus Christ bore our judgment and punishment for having broken the law which was death.

· Since righteousness has been secured for us and if the punishment for our transgressions has been paid, then we stand before God perfect—absolutely righteous and free from transgression—and acceptable to Him.

o Does this mean everyone is accepted by God and covered by the life and death of Jesus Christ?No! And the reason is easily seen: not everyone accepts what Jesus Christ has done for him—not everyone believes in Jesus Christ because of God’s grace.

o Jesus Christ has set us free; we do stand in liberty free from the bondage of sin and death wrought by the law—but only if we believe it because of God’s grace through faith alone.

o Naturally—it is as obvious as can be—if we do not believe and accept a gift freely given, then the Giver still possesses it. We do not receive the gift; therefore, we do not have it.

Thoughts to soak on:

· Therefore, let us stand fast in the liberty of Christ. For the only person who will ever be acceptable to God is the person who stands before God free of sin and condemnation, a person who has been set free by God’s very own Son. (Gal. 4:4–7.)[4]

§ Romans 8:2-3 (NKJV) 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,

§ 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Galatians 5:2-6 (NKJV) 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.

· Vs. 2: Indeed I, Paul, say to you undergirds the apostolic authority (see 1:1) by which Paul makes this serious assertion. He may also have been emphasizing his own Jewishness, indicating that he, Paul, a former Pharisee and “Hebrew of Hebrews” (Phil. 3:5), was obviously not speaking against trust in circumcision because of any personal or racial bias against Jews. Both as an apostle and as a circumcised and redeemed Jew, he declared that to receive circumcisionfor the purpose of gaining merit before God was to make Christ … of no benefit.

o The atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, perfect and complete though it was, cannot benefita person who trusts in anything else, because that something else, whether circumcision or any other human act or effort, then stands between him and Christ.

· All the people to whom Paul was writing had made a profession of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord or they would not have been part of the churches of Galatia. Many, perhaps most, of them had genuinely trusted in Him for salvation.

· The truth Paul presents here applied to both groups.

o To those who were not saved, he was saying that they could not be saved, they could not gain any eternal, saving benefit from Christ if they trusted in circumcisionor anything else added to being saved by grace through faith alone.

o To those who were saved he was saying that such behavior was inconsistent with their salvation and that certainly they could experience no benefit of growth in their spiritual lives if they began trusting in circumcisionin addition to God’s grace (cf. 3:1–3).

· To trust in Jesus Christ for salvation is to acknowledge that one cannot save himself. To trust in circumcisionor any other personal effort as a means of grace is to supplement His divine work with human work; and a supplemented Christis a supplanted Christ. To trust in human effort is to trust in law which is totally incompatible with grace.

· A person becomes acceptable to God only by placing his full trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, and after he is saved he perseveres in living a life acceptable to God only by continuing to trust in Christ alone.

o Whether before or after conversion, trust in human works of any kind is a barrier between a person and Christ and results in unacceptable legalism.

· Paul explained to Roman believers “that Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Discuss this point shared:

o Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works” (Rom. 9:30–32).

o The Gentiles who were not seeking righteousness nevertheless found it when they believed in Jesus Christ, whereas the Jews who were zealously seeking righteousness did not attain it, because they were seeking it in themselves.

o The believing Gentiles gained Christ’s righteousness, which is perfect, whereas the unbelieving Jews had only their self-righteousness, which was worthless.[5]

Galatians 5:4-6 (NKJV) 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.

· Vs. 4: By receiving circumcision, the Galatians severed themselves from the grace of Christ. Once the Galatians chose the Law as their savior and lord, they cut their ties to Christ as Savior and Lord.

· Does this mean that the Galatians actually lost the eternal life they had received when they believed? Not at all!

o Paul is now discussing law and grace as two diametrically opposed rules of life. Notice that Paul doesn’t say they had fallen from salvation. When somebody chooses the legalistic lifestyle, they’ve fallen from the lifestyle of grace and all of its benefits.

o They are seeking to be justified before God and men by their works done in the power of the flesh—their own abilities, unaided by grace—rather than by grace through faith by the power of the Holy Spirit.

§ In short, when we take up the torch of the flesh, we scorch the work of the Spirit!

· Vs. 5: What are some differences between living in the flesh and living by faith?

o First,our approach to personal righteousness is different. When we live according to our own merit, we believe that the burden for holiness rests solely upon our shoulders. As a result, we feel compelled to work by the sweat of our brow to achieve that righteousness.

§ But when we live by faith, we trust that our righteousness is secure in Christ, that the Spirit is working daily to conform us to His image, and that perfect holiness will come only when Christ glorifies us (5:5).

o A second major difference between living in the flesh and living by faith is that our lives become characterized not by laws, but by love.

· Vs. 6: The essential fuel for a flesh-oriented life is works; for a Christ-centered life, it’s faith expressing itself in love (James similarly emphasizes that true faith manifests itself through good deeds done out of genuine concern for others (Jas. 1:27; 2:14–17).

o Though faith and law are mutually exclusive, faith and love are inseparable essentialsin a truly grace-based, Spirit-empowered life.[6]

Thoughts to Soak on

· Here, then, is a revolutionary insight and a key to gospel-rooted living that we find in Galatians and the rest of Scripture: what ultimately counts in this life is what ultimately matters on the day of judgment.

o And what will make a difference on the day of judgment? The very same thing that makes all the difference on the day we’re justified—namely, faith through God’s grace alone.

· But the kind of faith that makes a difference on the day of judgment, indeed, the kind of faith that justifies, isn’t what the demons possess: mere mental assent to the facts of the Christian faith (cf. James 2:19). Instead, it’s the kind of faith that so trusts in Jesus that it inevitably expresses itself in love for both God and others. It’s the kind of faith that is “working through love” (v. 6).

· But why is this relevant to Bible-believing Christians? Because no earnest Christian is going to insist that what ultimately counts is stealing or lying or cheating or murder. But we might insist that water baptism ultimately counts, or our political views, or the kind of church we go to, or the view we hold on some interesting point of doctrine. Like those good Bible-believing Christians in Galatia, we are tempted to turn good things like circumcision and Biblical fidelity into ultimate things.

· So, whenever we’re tempted to turn something good into something ultimate, we should ask ourselves the question, what good will this do at the final judgment? We must apply the “faith working through love” test to everything we believe and everything we do. This will help us stand firm in freedom and avoid submitting to a yoke of spiritual slavery or legalism.[7]

Galatians 5:7-12 (NKJV) 7 You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion does not comefrom Him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. 11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. 12 I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!

Notice the characteristics of the false messengers in Galatia. They seem to be typical of all false teachers.

· Vs. 7: False messengers hinder obedience to the truth. This was true in Galatia, and false teachers certainly hinder people from obeying the truth today.

· Vs. 8: False messengers are not from God. Paul says, “This persuasion did not come from the One who called you”. We know God did not send them because they were teaching a false gospel of circumcision. Regardless of whether someone tells you that God “called” them or “sent” them, do not believe them if they are not teaching the true gospel. Paul says let them be eternally condemned, not embraced (Gal 1:7–9)!

· Vs. 9: False messengers contaminate others. Paul says, “A little yeast leavens the whole lump of dough”. False teachers are like yeast that permeates all the bread dough and makes it rise. In the New Testament, yeast is often a symbol of permeating sin and false doctrine. Jesus said, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matt 16:6).

o False teachers are so problematic because they affect so many people. This is why Paul is so intense in this letter.

· Vs. 10: False messengers will be judged. He writes, “I have confidence in the Lord you will not accept any other view. But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty.” As for those hearing the false teachers, Paul has confidence that those who were truly in Christ would not be persuaded by the false message.

o He believes at least some of the Galatians will eventually detect the error and walk in the truth.

o As for the false teachers, he is confident that God will judge them.

· Vs. 11: False messengers persecute true teachers. Paul is being persecuted because he is preaching the gospel. You would think that to preach something that is freely available to all people would be accepted, but it is not. Why then? Paul was being persecuted for one simple reason: The cross offends people.

o People would rather you make much of them and preach a salvation-by-works system than to stand up and brag on Jesus and the cross and point people to Him as the only way. Discuss!

This next section gets a little rough so bear with me😊…I am responsible for correct interpretation….so here goes.

· The cross! To preach the cross was an offense to the Jews, and it was nonsense to the Romans and the Greeks. Yet, Paul knew that Calvary enshrined the greatest truth in the world. He knew that the preaching of the cross was the message for lost mankind.

· In the preaching of the cross resided “the power of God unto salvation.” The gospel was God’s high explosive, the divine dynamite to convict, convert, and consecrate sinners willing to believe it.

· So, although such preaching might be offensive to the unregenerate human heart, no other message existed.

o For preaching that message, Paul was mobbed in Jerusalem, mocked at Athens, and murdered at Rome. No indeed!

o The cross’s offense had not ceased. If the Galatians thought that they could mitigate their own sufferings by being circumcised, they were wrong.

§ All they would get in return for that ritual would be the shroud of spiritual death upon their souls.

· Vs. 12: “I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!” Paul exclaims. This is a strong expression.

o The word apokoptō means “to amputate: Jesus, speaking hyperbolically in the Gospel of Mark, urged the would-be backslider: “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off” (Mark 9:43, NIV, cf. 45). Malchus, the high priest’s servant, had his right ear cut off by Peter, but the Lord restored it (John 18:10, 26).

o Galatians 5:12 is the most striking instance of apokoptō in the New Testament. This is the only time Paul used the word, and he followed the definition of “to castrate.”

§ Here Paul blasted his opponents who trusted in circumcision instead of grace. Rather than merely circumcising themselves, Paul wished they would “go all the way” and “cut it off!”[8]

· The Judaizers wanted Paul’s converts to be circumcised, to submit to a minor amputation to enhance their religious standing. Scornfully, Paul says in effect, “What they need is to go all the way and emasculate themselves.” That is literally what he means. They should emasculate themselves, make eunuchs of themselves. That would put an end to their malicious teaching, for then, according to the Law itself, they would be cut off from “the congregation of the Lord” (Deut. 23:1).

· We might think such an exclamation to be radical and not what we would expect from a great apostle. But it was precisely because he was an apostle, the very apostle to the Gentiles, indeed, that Paul did make such a statement.

· What the Judaizers were trying to effect was the cutting off of those Gentile believers from the body of Christ. No wonder Paul does not hesitate to call a spade a spade. Paul had no false modesty. He was as fierce as a tiger defending its cubs when it came to defending his converts from cultists.[9]

v This argument is summarized simply:

o Trust in Christ’s atoning work alone for salvation.

o Find your righteousness in Him.

o Resist anyone who points you somewhere other than to Christ alone.[10]

§ Easy to say, hard to do...Discuss and encourage in our present environment.

Discuss the following:

· Someone shared about certain attenders in his congregation. He said, “They told me they would not be back because they were deeply offended by the exclusive claims of the gospel.”

o The cross: it is either a stumbling block, or it is the power of God for salvation. You either boast in it or mock it and reject its power.

§ 1 Corinthians 1:18-19 (NKJV) 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."

· Why does the cross offend?

o It crushes human pride.

o It obliterates the religion of human achievement.

o For this crowd, it wiped out the idea that you were saved by keeping the Mosaic laws.

Galatians 5:13-15 (NKJV) 13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

· Vs. 13a: For you, brethren, have been called to liberty: Paul has made the point over and over again—the Christian life is a life of liberty. Jesus came to set the captives free, not to keep them in bondage or put them in bondage all over again. It is worth asking if people see us as people of freedom and liberty. Often, Christians are seen as people more bound up and hung up than anyone else is.

o “He is not saying that a certain measure of liberty was grudgingly accorded believers. He is saying that freedom is of the essence of being Christian; it is the fundamental basis of all Christian living.” (Morris)

· Vs. 13b: Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh: The great fear of the legalist is that liberty will be used as an opportunity for the flesh.

o The idea is that people will just go out and sin as they please, then say to a spineless God, “I’m sorry, please forgive me,” and then go on doing whatever they want again.

§ Paul recognized the danger of this attitude, so he warned against it here.

o It is easy to think liberty is “the right to sin,” or “the privilege to do whatever evil my heart wants to do.”

§ Instead, this libertyis the Spirit-given desire and ability to do what we should do before God.

· Vs. 13c: But through love serve one another: This is the antidote for using liberty as an occasion for the flesh.

o The flesh expects others to conform to us and doesn’t care much about others.

o But when we through love serve one another, we conquer the flesh. It isn’t through an obsessive, contemplative attitude of navel-gazing that we overcome the flesh, but by getting out and serving others.

o This is exactly the pattern set by Jesus. He had more liberty than anyone who ever walked this earth did. Yet He used His liberty to through love to serve others.

· Vs. 14: For all the law is fulfilled: This attitude of service towards one another fulfills the great commandment (You shall love your neighbor as yourself),

· Vs. 15: This fulfillment of the great commandment keeps us from destroying ourselves through strife (beware lest you be consumed by one another!). It’s as if Paul addressed the legalists again, and said: “You want to keep the law? Here you have it: Love your neighbor as yourself and you have fulfilledthe law in one word.”

Martin Luther jumps in to help us:

· “If you want to know how you ought to love your neighbor, ask yourself how much you love yourself. If you were to get into trouble or danger, you would be glad to have the love and help of all men. You do not need any book of instructions to teach you how to love your neighbor. All you must do is to look into your own heart, and it will tell you how you ought to love your neighbor as yourself.”

· Bite and devour one another: This reminds us of a pack of wild animals. That’s how the church can act when it uses its “liberty” as a platform to promote selfishness. If you want to see some action, put two selfish people together. Selfish people will eventually be consumed by one another.[11]

Let’s wrap up this study with a little application submitted by Warren Wiersbe.

· Paul’s doctrine of Christian liberty through grace is not the dangerous doctrine.

o It is legalism that is the dangerous doctrine, because legalismattempts to do the impossible: change the old nature and make it obey the Laws of God.

o Legalism succeeds for a short time, and then the flesh begins to rebel. The surrendered Christian who depends on the power of the Spirit is not denying the Law of God, or rebelling against it. Rather, that Law is being fulfilled in him through the Spirit (Rom. 8:1–4).

It is easy to see the sequence of thought in these closing chapters:

· I have been set free by Christ. I am no longer under bondage to the Law (Gal. 5:1–12).

· But I need something—Someone—to control my life from within. That Someone is the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:13–26).

· Through the Spirit’s love, I have a desire to live for others, not for self (Gal. 6:1–10).

· This life of liberty is so wonderful, I want to live it to the glory of God; for He is the One making it possible (Gal. 6:11–18).

Now, contrast this with the experience of the person who chooses to live under Law, under the discipline of some religious leader.

· If I obey these rules, I will become a more spiritual person. I am a great admirer of this religious leader, so I now submit myself to his system.

· I believe I have the strength to obey and improve myself. I do what I am told and measure up to the standards set for me.

· I’m making progress. I don’t do some of the things I used to do. Other people compliment me on my obedience and discipline. I can see that I am better than others in my fellowship. How wonderful to be so spiritual.

· If only others were like me! God is certainly fortunate that I am His. I have a desire to share this with others so they can be as I am. Our group is growing, and we have a fine reputation. Too bad other groups are not as spiritual as we are.

No matter how you look at it, legalism is an insidious, dangerous enemy. When you abandon grace for Law, you always lose. In this first section (Gal. 5:1–12), Paul explains what the believer loses when he turns from God’s grace to man-made rules and regulations.[12]

[1]William Barclay, ed., The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians, The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster John Knox Press, 1976), 43–44. [2]L. Ann Jervis, Galatians, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book, 2011), 126–127. [3]George G. Findlay, “The Epistle to the Galatians,” in The Expositor’s Bible: Luke to Galatians, ed. W. Robertson Nicoll, vol. 5, Expositor’s Bible (Hartford, CT: S.S. Scranton Co., 1903), 886. [4]Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Galatians–Colossians, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1996), 70. [5]John F. MacArthur Jr., Galatians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1983), 133–135. [6]Charles R. Swindoll, Galatians, Ephesians, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2015), 115. [7]Todd Wilson, Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living, ed. R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 175. [8]Thoralf Gilbrant, “Ἀποκόπτω,” The New Testament Greek-English Dictionary, The Complete Biblical Library (WORDsearch, 1991). [9]John Phillips, Exploring Galatians: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publishers; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Ga 5:11–12. [10]David Platt and Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 102–103. [11]David Guzik, Galatians, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Ga 5:13–15. [12]Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 713.