Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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.