Freedom in Christ

1. Reaction to Freedom (vss. 1-6)
1. “Stand fast”/perseverance [in liberty]     -- vs. 1

* 1 Cor. 16:13

1. “Liberty” = derives from the word free which lends itself to mean = not a slave or under not under any restraint

*Dentist – wrote off $250 – he released us from that debt.

1. “Made us Free” = exempt from liability – not accountable. “Do not be entangled” [w/the yoke (pair of scales) of bondage] – vs. 1
   
   
2. “Circumcised” = Law/Works – this is a sign of subjection to the Judiazers. According to Galatians, this is a reference to a condition of salvation. – vs. 2
   
   
3. “I testify” = affirm/protest – vs. 3
   
   
4. “debtor” = moral obligation – vs. 3
   
   
5. “estranged” = destruction of growth/life/physical/spiritual – there has been a severance of intimacy. They had put themselves in a place where Christ no longer has an effect on them. – vs. 4
   
   
6. “justification” = is a judicial act of God done once 4 all; sanctification is a process which goes on throughout the course of a believer’s life. (If we could loose our salvation—then we have dumbed it down to being about Man’s Works instead of God’s grace. –vs. 4
   
   
7. “eagerly wait” = The word speaks of an attitude of intense yearning and an eager waiting for something. Here it refers to the believer’s intense desire for and eager expectation of a practical righteousness which will be constantly produced in his life by the Holy Spirit as he yields himself to Him – vs. 5
   
   
8. “avails” = to have power, to exert or wield power“to have power, to exert or wield power.” – vs. 6
   
   
9. “ran well” = The Galatian Christians were running the Christian race well, but the Judaizers cut in on them and now were slowing up their progress in their growth in the Christian life. They had deprived the Galatians of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and the latter had been thrown back upon self effort in an attempt to obey a set of legal restrictions, with the result that their lives had lost the fragrance of the Lord Jesus and the enabling power for service which the Spirit formerly gave them. (Distraction comes from your ENEMY; Direction comes from your LORD.) – vs. 7
10. This “persuasion” induce words to believe – vs. 8
    
    
11. “leaven” - Leaven is always a symbol of evil in the Bible. The Jews before the days of unleavened bread, would remove every particle of leaven from their homes. Leaven, which operates on the principle of fermentation, is an apt symbol of moral and spiritual corruption. A very small lump readily permeates the entire bread dough. Our Lord used it as a symbol of the false doctrines of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 16:6–12). In I Corinthians 5:6, Paul uses the symbol, of the immoral conduct of a few in the church which was endangering the life of the entire church, and which unrebuked, would spread throughout that local assembly. – vs. 9
    
    
12. “judgement” – do or a tittle – vs. 10
    
    
    
13. “cross” = The Cross was offensive to the Jew therefore because it set aside the entire Mosaic economy, and because it offered salvation by grace through faith alone without the added factor of works performed by the sinner in an effort to merit the salvation offered. – vs. 11
    
    
14. “cut themselves off” = The word refers to bodily mutilation. Paul expresses the wish that the Judaizers would not stop with circumcision, but would go on to emasculation. The town of Pessinus was the home of the worship of Cybele in honor of whom bodily mutilation was practiced. The priests of Cybele castrated themselves. This was a recognized form of heathen self-devotion to the god and would not be shunned in ordinary conversation. This explains the freedom with which Paul speaks of it to his Galatian converts. In Philippians 3:2, the apostle speaks of the Judaizers as the concision that is, those who mutilate themselves. Vincent expresses his conception of Paul’s words as follows: “These people are disturbing you by insisting on circumcision. I would that they would make thorough work of it in their own case, and instead of merely amputating the foreskin, would castrate themselves as heathen priests do. Perhaps this would be even more powerful help to salvation.” He says that this is perhaps the severest expression in Paul’s epistles.

1. Relationship with Freedom (vss. 7-12)  

3.   Liability of Freedom (vss. 13-15)