Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; therefore, stand firm and do not again be subject to a yoke of slavery.
The freedom Christ brings is what people seek but do not know how to find. Paul now calls the Galatians to the height of Christian experience found only in total submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ. There is a break at the beginning of ch. 5 from the allegorization of the Old Testament characters of Sarah, Isaac, Hagar, and Ishmael. This verse shifts to the gospel that Paul had first preached to the Galatians. His message did not change, but how the Galatians understood it had. They had not worked out the implications of this message and had been led astray by false teaching. This letter seeks to correct this problem by showing the awesome peace and freedom that come in total faith in Christ.
The freedom of which Paul writes here is freedom from the struggle to overcome the flesh, self, and sin by human effort. This human effort is expressed in many ways. Those who truly seek contact with God are tempted to do this by pious religious acts such as certain rituals. The issue facing the Galatians was circumcision pushed by the false preachers. In our day, rituals that can lead people to think they are right with God include the Eucharist, baptism, church attendance, giving of offerings, following certain religious holidays like Christmas or Easter, or many other things. These all have value but they cannot replace the gospel. The gospel message itself is simple. It is what Paul expressed back in 2:20. We find the true meaning for life and our existence when we have put ourselves on the cross and live by faith in Jesus Christ. Putting oneself on the cross requires ending the struggle to be righteous by human effort. It involves putting one’s selfish desires and struggles to please the flesh on the cross, putting these to death, and by faith rejecting their influence upon us.
Paul then calls the Galatians to stand firm against those who want to preach a false gospel. They must not compromise the essential gospel of freedom and replace it by works of the law leading to legalism. They must stand strong against the false teachers who had come with a different message than what Paul preached. The only way they can do this with victory and effectiveness would be by following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, which Paul will mention at the end of this chapter.
At the the point of when this letter was written, the Galatians had assumed a yoke of slavery. This slavery manifested itself in two ways. First, they were told by the so-called agitators to go through circumcision in order to be Christians. This was a Jewish practice that was a key identification marker for Jews. By doing this, the Galatians were taking upon themselves the Jewish ceremonial laws and practices which were not necessary to be considered righteous before God. These were signs of the old covenant community, not the new covenant, which was circumcision of the heart. Second, they were being deceived into thinking that they could do certain things in order to be justified before God. Paul shows clearly in this letter and especially in Romans 1-3 that no one can keep the law perfectly. All have sinned and need God’s forgiveness through the atonement only made possible through Jesus Christ.
It is difficult for us as well to grasp the profound grace of God that overcomes all of our human struggles, even the struggle we take upon ourselves to be good enough before God. We have reversed the order. Righteousness does not come by sinful people weakened by the powers of sin and death. Righteousness comes only as the gift of the one who created us and redeemed us.
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