When I hear the word freedom, I think of the sacrifice paid so we can live without unwanted and unwarranted physical and moral encumbrances. Those brave men and women in uniform are willing to sacrifice their lives for me to enjoy the freedoms I have. That includes freedom to worship God. Not everyone in the world has the same freedom, so I don’t take it lightly. However, everyone in the world can have the freedom for which Christ sacrificed His life. This is a spiritual freedom that no political system can legislate or take away.
Don’t be bound by legalism.
When we were steeped in legalism and bound by a set of rules, Christ came and set us free. This means He completely liberated our conscience from the curse of striving unsuccessfully to achieve our own righteousness. Our acceptance with God and access to him is through Christ alone.
If we insist on rule-keeping as a means of salvation, we lose Christ. Instead, we must enjoy the freedom Christ brought us through forgiveness. May we never go back to the idea that we have to win over God by our own obedience. That’s a yoke of slavery that once held us ensnared. Now we have been freed from its curse.
Finish what was started.
Paul told the Galatians they had a good start. Then they were hindered from running the course they knew to be true. This evil detour was not from the God who invited them to freedom in Christ. False teachers perverted their faith and misled them by requiring circumcision as a necessary part of salvation. In the old covenant, circumcision had meaning because it was a physical symbol of a cleansed heart. Paul was not opposed to the act of circumcision. He was opposed to false teachers requiring it as a part of salvation and bolstering their claim by saying he was still preaching this same message. Since he was actively being persecuted, this was obviously not the case. He even went so far as to say, “if you are so obsessed with circumcision, why don’t you just go ahead and castrate yourself!”
True freedom is realized through the Holy Spirit.
These false teachers were so obsessed with not only circumcision, but also the whole covenant of the law, that they missed true freedom in Christ is realized through the Holy Spirit. The freedom we are called to enables us to have peace with God and approach Him without fear. Instead of using this freedom as an excuse to serve ourselves, the Holy Spirit living in us encourages us to serve one another with love, thus fulfilling the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.
Paul has confidence in the Lord that those who are true believers will not be deceived for long. Through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of our glorification. This is the hope we have as believers in Christ that we are declared right before a Holy God. The Holy Spirit living in us confirms this to be true as we wait for Christ’s return. Those preaching a false religion will be devastated with eternal condemnation while God’s children live forever in Glory with Him. It is absolutely clear this is the freedom we were called to.
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified[a] by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers,[b] still preach[c] circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
