Galatians 5:1-15

Notable passages of scripture B4 we get started:

Galatians 5:3

For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

HOW MANY LAWS WERE THERE?

In the Old Testament (Genesis-Deuteronomy), the Jews commonly understood there to be 613 laws (commandments) in the Law of Moses.

248 positive commands (things to do)

365 negative commands (things not to do)

Note:

You don’t get to pick and choose which ones you keep and which ones you don’t keep

James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Simple Illustration

It’s like a chain with 613 links.

Break one link, the whole chain is broken

You don’t get credit for the 612 you kept

Galatians 5:9

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

What is leaven?

Leaven (yeast) is something you put into dough that causes it to rise.

In the Bible, leaven is often used as a picture of:

Sin

False teaching

Corruption

Simple Meaning

A small amount of error can affect everything.

It does not stay small.

It spreads.

Illustration

Think of a batch of bread dough:

You only add a small amount of yeast

But it spreads through the entire batch

You cannot keep it in just one corner.

👉 In the same way, false teaching will not stay contained 👉 It will spread through a church, a family, or a person’s thinking

Application

Be careful what teaching you accept

Do not add anything to salvation by grace

Guard the truth, even in small things

Galatians 5:14

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Right after this, Paul warns:

Galatians 5:15 “But if ye bite and devour one another…”

That is the opposite of love.

So the real issue was not just theology, it was:

They were losing love for each other

Ask: Am I loving others, or just trying to be “right”?

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The Root Problem (Gal 5:1-15)

They had moved away from the simplicity of the gospel of grace and were:

Trying to earn what God gives freely

Listening to wrong voices

Misusing or misunderstanding their freedom

Losing love for one another

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1. They were being pulled back into bondage

Galatians 5:1 “…be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

The issue was not that they lost salvation.

The issue was that they were being drawn back into a system of earning God’s favor.

They started in grace, but now they were drifting.

2. They were trying to mix grace and works

Galatians 5:4 “…whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”

This is the core problem.

They were not rejecting Jesus completely. They were adding to Him.

But the gospel does not work that way.

It is not Jesus + law

It is not faith + works

It is Christ alone

3. They were being influenced by false teachers

Galatians 5:7 “Ye did run well; who did hinder you…?”

Someone came in and confused them.

These teachers made it sound right, but it led them away from truth.

4. They misunderstood Christian liberty

By the end of the passage, Paul shows another side of the problem:

Galatians 5:13 “…use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh…”

So there were two dangers:

Some were going back to law (legalism)

Others could swing toward flesh (license)

Both come from the same root problem: not understanding grace correctly

5. It was producing division instead of love

Galatians 5:15 “But if ye bite and devour one another…”

When grace is lost, love is lost.

Instead of serving each other, they were hurting each other.

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Understanding True Liberty in Christ

1. Liberty Comes from Christ, Not the Law

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 4:31

So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

2 Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

2. The Law Was a Heavy Yoke

Acts 15:10 (start reading in v-5)

10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

Galatians 2:4

4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:

3. Liberty Can Be Misused

1 Corinthians 8:9–13

9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.

10 For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols;

11 And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?

12 But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

13 Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

4. Liberty Should Lead to Love

1 Corinthians 8:12–13

12 But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.

13 Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

Simple Truth: Real freedom chooses love over self.

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