Freedom in Christ not despised

Galatians 5:1

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

The yoke of slavery that Paul mentions here is tying the expectations of the ritual of circumcision to the new believer.

This is him addressing the legalism that the law people were trying to enforce on the believers.

The whole of the letter is addressing the folly of the legalizers and their intention to preach another gospel

Galatians 4:1–31 ESV

I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.” Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

Summarized Bible: Complete Summary of the New Testament Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

Contents: Believers full redemption from the law. Sonship through the Spirit. Dangers of lapsing into legality. Impossibility of mixing law and grace.

Characters: God, Christ, Holy Spirit, Paul, Abraham, Hagar, Isaac.

Conclusion: Law and grace are an impossible mixture, for salvation is wholly by faith in Christ and our sonship is immediately testified to in the heart by the incoming of the Holy Spirit, upon the basis of Christ’s finished work as the full satisfaction of the law. Let us not, therefore, fall again in bondage to the legality of the law, which is merely an element of salvation to reveal to us the inveterate sinfulness of our nature and the impossibility of saving ourselves.

Key Word: Bondage and grace, vv. 3, 5.

Strong Verses: 4, 5, 6.

Striking Facts: v. 4. Jesus, who was truly God, for our sakes became man. He Who was Lord of all took upon Himself the state of subjection and the form of a servant. The one end of all this was to redeem those under the law. He, the perfect One, took what we deserve, that we, the sinners, might get what He deserved.

Eleuteria - for freedom/liberty/liberated

Christ has set us free

Eleutherosen - to grant freedom to; to cause to be free

And

Stand Firm - to hold one's ground; maintain a position; be steadfast or upright

me palin - Do not again

To a yoke of slavery

Yoke

Stable gear that joins two draft animals at the neck so they can work together as a team

Slavery

State of subjection to an owner or master

submit

enechesthe

To be subjected - to become forced to experience or suffer; to become liable or vulnerable to

ελευθερια - liberty

στηκω - stand firm

ελευθεροω - free/set free

Χριστος - Christ

ζυγος - yoke/balance scale

ενεχω - hold a grudge/bear ill will (submit

παλιν - again

δουλεια - slavery; servility

ουν - so/then/therefore

εγω - I we

5:1. This verse summarizes chapter 4, where the theme is bondage and freedom. It also serves to introduce chapter 5. Paul declared that Christ was the great Liberator who set believers free from bondage. The apostle then appealed to the Galatians to stand firm (cf. 1 Cor. 16:13; Phil. 1:27; 4:1; 1 Thes. 3:8; 2 Thes. 2:15) in that liberty, for having been delivered from slavery to heathenism, they were in danger of becoming entangled in slavery to the Mosaic Law.

5:2. Taking up a prime example of such entanglement, namely circumcision, Paul issued a strong warning to the Galatians who were considering submitting to that rite. If they did, and were thereby seeking righteousness by works, Paul declared that Christ will be of no value to you at all. It is not that the apostle condemned circumcision in itself, for he had Timothy circumcised (in Galatia) so that the young man would have a wider ministry (Acts 16:1–3). But Paul was strongly opposed to the Judaistic theology which insisted that circumcision was necessary for salvation. Anyone who was circumcised for that reason added works to faith and demonstrated that he had not exercised saving faith in Christ.

Campbell, Donald K. 1985. “Galatians.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, 2:605. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.