Galatians 5:13-16

INTRODUCTION

We live in an age when men, women, and even children are seeking liberation. "Do your own thing" is the manifesto of the freedom movement. Authority is being challenged as the individual follows the desire of his own heart. Self-centeredness is the motivating factor of worldly freedom. But that is not real freedom according to the Bible. Jesus said in John 8:34, "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." While the liberation movements can't really set a person free, Jesus can. He said, "If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). Freedom comes in Jesus Christ. That is the manifesto of Christianity. One reason it is difficult for Christians to understand current liberation movements is that they can't relate to bondage because of their liberty in Christ.

It is important to define our liberty in Christ because that phrase has been misused and misunderstood. When I say as a Christian that I am free in Christ, what do I mean? What is Christian liberty? What does it involve and how does it operate?

LESSON

I. WHAT CHRISTIAN LIBERTY IS (v. 13a)

"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty."

A. The Release from the Obligation of the Ceremonial Law

Galatians 5:1 says, "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Christ set us free to experience true freedom. Christian freedom is freedom of conscience, freedom from a legal system that couldn't be kept. It is freedom from the depressing awareness that we can't measure up to God. Christians do measure up in Christ. We have been "accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6).

The Galatians Christians had been adopted as sons of God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and freed from external ceremonial law. They were free in the Spirit to act out their own maturity and liberty from within. That was Paul's theme. Christianity is not slavery to a religious system; it is absolute freedom. Through Jesus Christ we have been delivered from the tiring, relentless performance of religious ritual. The Old Covenant law was external. It was given to demonstrate what true holiness is, and to show men that they couldn't make it. The ceremonial practices were symbolic lessons that taught sacrifice was necessary for sin. They pictured the final sacrifice of Christ. Once the reality came, there was no longer any need for the symbols.

Christian liberty is being free from having to fulfill the legal code to please God, and free from the frustration of not being able to keep an external set of rules. In a positive sense, it is the freedom to function by the internal working of the Spirit. Because Christian liberty begins with faith in Jesus Christ, Paul tells the Galatians not to put their faith in circumcision or any other type of ceremonialism. According to Galatians 4:10, they had regressed from their freedom to observing "days, and months, and times, and years." For that reason Paul said, "I am afraid [for] you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain" (4:11). They were trying to accept Jewish rituals that no longer had any value.

B. The Responsibility of Obedience to the Moral Law

1. Explained

It is important to understand that the moral law of God hasn't changed--nor has the believer's obligation to it. The moral law is still binding. The doctrine about freedom was difficult for the Jewish people to accept. Because the teaching of Christian liberty posed a threat to their religious system, some of the Jews accused Paul of being antinomian. They assumed Paul was teaching that Christians had the liberty to do anything they wanted. The Judaizers who were misleading the Galatians charged Paul with rejecting God's ethical law. But Paul hadn't done that at all. He simply said that God's ethical law had become internal since Christ had come to live inside the believer.

From the Old Covenant and the Mosaic law to the New Covenant and the law of Christ, the moral law has not changed in the mind of God. God has the same morality that He had then. The difference is, as Christians, we live under the internal restraints of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. We are not reacting to a code. We are responding to a Person. The law was not set aside in its moral sense, but only in it's ceremonial sense. Acts 10:9-15 supports that. The Lord said to Peter that it was now lawful to eat anything.

The ceremonial law had two functions: to make Israel a unique nation (the Israelites had to live like no one else did), and to picture the coming sacrifice of Messiah. Once the sacrifice of Messiah was made, the pictures weren't needed anymore. Once the church was established, there was no longer a need to maintain Israel as a unique nation, for Jew and Gentile became one in Christ (Eph. 2:14). Although the ceremonial law was set aside, the moral law has not changed. In fact, through the Holy Spirit in your life now, God will be able to accomplish what He endeavored to accomplish in the Mosaic law of the Old Testament. Christianity is not against the moral law of God.

The Dangers of Legalism and Libertinism

Let me illustrate how Christianity relates to the extremes of legalism and libertinism: Christianity resembles a narrow bridge spanning a place where two streams come together. One of those streams is crystal clear, but contains treacherous and deadly rapids; it symbolizes legalism--it appears to be a source of righteousness, but you can't stay afloat in it. Legalism will smash you on its rocks. The other stream is polluted libertinism-- if you fall into it, you will drown because of its filth. Therefore, the Christian must maintain his balance on the bridge between the treachery of legalism and the filth of libertinism. Christians who have fallen into the rapids of legalism destroy the effectiveness of their spiritual lives. Those who are wallowing in the vices of libertinism put themselves in line for divine discipline. Galatians 5:13-16 tell us how to stay on the bridge.

Since we are no longer under the bondage of a ceremonial system, there is no reason to get circumcised or to observe feasts, new moons, and Sabbaths. There are some people today who want all kinds of rituals. But there is no need for that. However, just because the ceremonial law is set aside does not mean that we change our morality. It doesn't mean that what God held as true in the Old Testament fades away with the coming of the New Testament. There is no change in the content of God's moral law, only a change in the way God brings about the fulfillment of it: from the external requirement of ceremonial law to the internal leading of the Holy Spirit.

2. Exemplified

Exodus 21 contains various instructions connected to the Ten Commandments, which are given in chapter 20: "Now these are the ordinances which thou [Moses] shalt set before them [the Israelites]. If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he was married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free; then his master shall bring him unto the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever." A man could serve for six years under bondage because the law required it. However, he could walk out a free man on the seventh year. He could then use his freedom to serve his master because he loved him. There isn't one bit of difference in what the servant did the first six years and what he does the rest of his life. The only difference is that it has ceased to be an external requirement and has become an internal desire.

In the same sense, when a Jew came to Christ, he continued to serve God by obeying His moral code. However, he began to obey it not because it was required of him, but because he loved his Master and had the energy of the indwelling Christ to fulfill it. A devout Jew living by the moral and ceremonial codes of Moses would drop the ceremonies when he believed in Christ, but would retain the unchanging code of moral truth in the Old Testament. The only difference would be the reason for his behavior would change. He was freed from the law that exposed his sin. However, he was freed not to disobey, but to do what is right. The Christian doesn't need the external ceremonial laws anymore because the Holy Spirit restrains him from doing what is wrong and guides him to do what is right.

II. WHAT CHRISTIAN LIBERTY IS NOT (vv. 13b-15)

A. Indulging the Flesh (v. 13b)

"Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh."

Christian freedom is not an opportunity to indulge the flesh. The flesh in New Testament thought is our fallen human nature, the part of us that is prone to sin. It is "the old man" (Col. 3:9). A Christian wasn't set free in Christ to do whatever he wants. Some people wrongly think that because of the eternal security of the believer, they are free to do anything they want. No. Christian liberty is not liberty to indulge the flesh. If you're saved, you won't indulge your flesh because of the sin-restraining presence of the Holy Spirit inside you.

Verse 13 tells us that we are not to use our "liberty for an occasion to the flesh." The word translated "occasion" (Gk. aphorme) is a military term referring to a base of operations. Don't make your flesh the base of your operation. Don't say, "I'm a Christian who's going to go to heaven; therefore I can do what I want to do." You are not free to use your liberty as a springboard for the flesh. Paul denied the Judaizers' claim that he was teaching libertinism.

There are Christians on the borderline of believing the heresy that they can sin and get away with it without being condemned. They think they have the privilege of doing whatever they want and would say you can indulge in such things as booze, sex, or pornography by appealing to Christian liberty. No. It's very clear in verse 13 that Christian liberty is not to be used as an occasion for the flesh. In fact, I would seriously doubt the salvation of anyone who believes otherwise because if they are saved, the Spirit will be restraining their sinful desires. Romans 8:9-11 tells us that one of the works of the Holy Spirit is to subdue the flesh.

1. Its proponents

Whenever you hear someone propagating that Christian liberty allows for indulging the flesh, you can classify them as false teachers.

a) 2 Peter 2:18-19--Peter describes the character and promises of false teachers: "For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that are just escaping from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." Some people come to the place in life where they are seeking for God. At least they are sick of their life-style. When a false teacher comes along and tells them, "We've got the religion that says you can do what you want," they often put off their moral reform and are driven back down to the depths of sin.

b) Jude 4--"There are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [licentiousness]." Christian freedom is not freedom to sin; it's freedom from the power of sin.

2. Its prevention

The greatest liberty in the world is to be free from self- centered indulgence and able to serve God. The best example of that is Jesus. Romans 13:14 says, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts." Notice the contrast there: You either make provision for the flesh or you put on Jesus Christ. Jesus made no provision for His own desires. Paul said this of Him in Romans 15:3: "For even Christ pleased not himself." In John 4:34, Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish his work." Christ didn't please Himself. True Christian freedom is to be free from slavery to self desire and free to do whatever God wants you to do. That's an exciting kind of liberty. The implication is simple: Our aim is not to please ourselves, but the Lord. Our motivation is not the stiff upper-lip of duty; it's the loving service of gratitude to One who has set us free.

In the Old Testament, the area of sex is clearly defined. God tolerated no extramarital or premarital sex at all. There were severe consequences for anyone who engaged in adultery, fornication, bestiality, or homosexuality. Are we to presume that God changed His moral standards in the New Testament and we can now do whatever we want as long as we claim we love each other? For example, there are now churches for homosexuals, as if God had thrown out Old Testament morality. God's standards haven't changed any more than God has changed. Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, and today, and forever." Advocates of free sex have infiltrated Christianity. It's taken for granted that sexual love is the most important aspect of a relationship between any two people who love each other. A Christian is not free to abuse sex. The sexual freedom talked about today is the same old slavery to self and the lust of the flesh.

B. Injuring Others (vv. 13c, 15)

1. The command to be considerate to one another (v. 13c)

"But by love serve one another."

a) Stated

Someone could say, "I'm free in Christ so I'm going to do what I want," and then recklessly stomp over other Christians. But this verse brings up the whole area of Christian liberty in relationship to my brother in Christ. My liberation is not a license to hurt my Christian brother, but to serve him by a supreme kind of love (Gk. agape). Such love requires that one set aside his personal ambitions and be willing to express his freedom in helping his fellow Christians. The word serve (Gk. douleuo) refers to the service rendered by a bondslave. It means to serve another Christian as his slave. Liberty and slavery in the Christian life form a paradox, but not a contradiction because such service is voluntary.

b) Supported

It's very easy for the Christian use his liberty without regard for other believers. In Romans 14--15, Paul emphasizes the importance of service over selfishness.

(1) The context

Romans 14:1 says, "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations." This passage has two kinds of Christians in view: the weak and the strong. The weak Christian is legalistic and unable to accept his liberty in Christ, while the strong Christian understands his liberty. In the church at Rome, for example, there were many Jewish believers. When they learned that their freedom in Christ meant they were no longer required to keep the ceremonial laws, they were shocked. A Jewish person couldn't abruptly lay aside those laws without being hindered by his conscience. If he was invited over to a Christian brother's house who was having pork chops, he conscience wouldn't let him eat them. His host, who is stronger spiritually, might wonder what's wrong with him as he goes right ahead and eats pork chops right in front of his guest. The stronger Christian would be flaunting his liberty and in so doing would be wounding the conscience of his weaker guest, who would think less of his host. Rather the host should refrain from eating the pork to prevent offending his weaker brother.

Verse 2 says, "For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs." Some weaker Christians might have been vegetarians to avoid eating meat that had been offered to idols. The New Testament makes it clear that all foods can be "received with thanksgiving" (1 Tim. 4:4) and that the distinction between clean and unclean animals is no longer applicable (Acts 10:13-15). After meat had been offered to various Greco-Roman deities, it would often be sold to people in the marketplace. To some weak Christians, that was a stumbling block.

(2) The commands

(a) Don't condemn others

Paul instructed the Romans, "Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him who eateth not judge him that eateth; for God hath received him" (v. 3). God accepts the weak and the strong (the vegetarians and the meat eaters). One shouldn't make a big issue over what a Christian does or doesn't eat. Paul is essentially saying to the spiritually strong in chapter 14, "The weak person just hasn't discovered the meaning of his freedom. He is still a legalist at heart. He still sees Christianity as a set of rules."

There are many churches like that. A code of rules is set up and the members are expected to follow it. Churches like that are implying that the work of the Holy Spirit is inadequate to guide them. They are trying to reestablish an external code. There are some people who do not understand their liberty, so they live according to certain ritual and rules. If you are a stronger brother who is not hung up on such things, don't mock a weaker one. Rather receive him as a beloved brother. Don't use your freedom as an excuse to make an issue over neutral things. By neutral, I don't mean a clear biblical command to be baptized or to read the Bible; rather it could include something insignificant in itself like shopping on Sunday. If, in a weaker Christian's mind, there is something wrong with shopping on the Lord's Day because of the way he's been raised, I am not going to force him to go shopping. I will accept him at his level of spiritual understanding and refrain from going shopping myself to prevent him from being offended.

Paul told the Romans to let the Lord deal with the validity of the weaker brother's belief: "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth.... One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind" (vv. 4- 5). If say, a Jewish convert to Christianity wants to keep the Sabbath for a while, that's all right; don't offend him. There's no sense in making an issue out of it. Verse 6 says, "He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord; for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks." If a Christian wants to keep the Sabbath or eat a certain food, thinking that is the right thing to do, don't make an issue out of it since those things don't really matter. The Lord will evaluate each individual at the judgment seat (v. 10).

First Peter 2:16, giving us similar instruction, tells us that we should never use our "liberty for a cloak of maliciousness." Don' flaunt your freedom over someone who doesn't understand it. You are going to meet legalistic brothers who may think it is wrong to dress a certain way, or do certain things on the Lord's Day, or use a word like golly as an expletive in place of God. The best thing to do is avoid the controversy. Don't flaunt your liberty; take consideration for your weaker brother.

(b) Don't cause others to stumble

Paul cautioned the Romans by saying, "Let us not, therefore, judge one another any more; but judge this, rather: that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way" (v. 13). Verse 21 takes that general principle and particularizes it: "It is good neither to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor anything by which thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak." Although few today would be offended by eating foods offered to idols, there are some people who might be offended by people who drink wine. One of the reasons I don't drink is that it will inevitably make someone stumble. Causing someone to stumble means halting the spiritual progress of a Christian by doing something in front of him that his conscience doesn't allow him to do. You can also offend him and jeopardize your testimony, causing him to think less of you as a Christian because you have failed to lovingly make consideration for his immaturity. If he has stumbled and become offended, he will probably be "made weak" by falling further back into legalism as he observes your careless use of liberty.

(3) The conclusion

(a) Evaluating what is important

Paul said, "I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy food, now walkest thou not in love. Destroy not him with thy food, for whom Christ died" (vv. 14-15). Gradually bring a weaker Christian to the place where he understands "nothing is unclean of itself." Jesus loved him enough to die for him, so don't show a lack of love by exercising your liberty to the point where you destroy your testimony and cripple him by pushing him further into legalism. Paul continued, "The kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.... For food destroy not the work of God" (vv. 17, 20).

(b) Edifying those who are weak

Paul made a concluding exhortation, saying, "We, then, that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself" (15:1-3). Christian liberty does not mean we are free to injure our brother by doing whatever we want. We are free to lovingly serve that brother. There are some things I can do in the so-called "gray areas" that are not wrong, but they appear to be wrong to some people. So I don't do those things because I don't want to consciously offend my brother. That would be an abuse of the liberty God gave me. However, if you misuse your liberty by living it up and drinking and smoking and gambling in Las Vegas, there can be some destructive consequences.

2. The consequence of consuming one another (v. 15)

"But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another."

If you exercise your liberty, inconsiderately stomping all over everyone else, the whole church will end up fighting itself. If everyone exercises his own liberty, the unity of the body of Christ will be destroyed. You may fear that constantly worrying about what everyone thinks will change your entire pattern of life. That' true, but it's wonderful to do that. The Bible instructs us to serve one another out of love rather than maliciously injuring one another's spiritual growth by abusing our liberty.

C. Ignoring the Law (v. 14)

"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

A Christian shouldn't say, "I'm free in Christ; I'm going to ignore the whole law." Freedom in Christ isn't freedom to ignore the law; it's freedom to fulfill the law. For Paul, the moral law was still the expression of the will of God. In Romans 7:22, Paul said, "I delight in the law of God." But he realized that he was not externally bound by the concrete forms of Judaism. He possessed the internal form of the law: the love of Christ flowing out of his life, in which the whole law is fulfilled. Paul quotes Leviticus 19:18 in verse 14, emphasizing that the law is summarized in love and can now be fulfilled by the indwelling Christ. The moral requirements of God's law haven't changed; it's just that now the basis of operation has gone inside. Christian liberty doesn't involve ignoring God's moral law. It fulfills it from the inside by love.

Romans 13:9-10 repeats Paul's point: "For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (v. 9). If you love, you don't need those laws because you won't kill, covet, steal from, or commit adultery against someone you love. If love is being exercised, the rest of the law is automatically fulfilled.

You may say, "I'd surely like to have that love." You were already given it the moment you were saved. Romans 5:5 tells us that when we were saved "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us." When a Christian acts on the principle of love, he is fulfilling everything that the Mosaic law was intended to accomplish, but from an internal motivation. We are called to freedom in Christ, not to serve self anymore, but to serve God first and then to serve others.

Christian liberty is not freedom to indulge the flesh, but the capacity to use self-control. It is also not freedom to injure others, but to love them by ministering to them. And Christian liberty is not freedom to ignore the law, but to fulfill it. Notice that Christian liberty affects our relationship to self, others, and God. Freedom is to be expressed by the Christian through self-control, love of others, and obedience to God's law. You may say, "It's nice to say that about our liberty in Christ, but how does it operate?"

III. HOW CHRISTIAN LIBERTY IS EXPRESSED (v. 16)

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit."

The operation of Christian liberty is not automatic. We must walk in the Spirit. Rather than being under the control of a legal system, the believer has the potential of being controlled by a Person: God the Holy Spirit. When God set the law aside at the cross, He knew what He was doing. He didn't leave the world without leaving behind a restrainer. God ran the world for over 2500 years before the Mosaic law was given. He can run the world after the law has been set aside just as well. You say, "What about the rules? How will we restrain sin?" You will restrain sin by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. I would chafe under a legal system. In fact, I spent the most carnal years of my Christian life in a legalistic Christian institution because externals were being substituted for the work of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, I ignored the work of the Holy Spirit and endeavored to live by externals. But God will fulfill his entire law in us as we walk in the Spirit.

Focusing on the Facts

1. What is the motivating factor of worldly freedom?

2. Why was the Old Covenant law given?

3. What did the ceremonial practices teach and picture? Why were the symbols no longer needed with Christianity?

4. Is the moral law still binding on Christians? Explain.

5. What had some of the Jews accused Paul of being?

6. Although the ________ law was set aside, the ________ law has not changed.

7. What happens when Christians fall into legalism or libertinism?

8. What is the meaning of flesh in the New Testament? Explain the relationship of Christian liberty to the flesh.

9. Who are common proponents of indulging the flesh, according to Peter and Jude?

10. What is the greatest liberty in the world? Who is the best example of that?

11. What should be our motivation for serving God?

12. As liberated Christians, how should we respond to fellow believers, according to Galatians 5:13?

13. Compare the characteristics of weak and strong Christians.

14. What could have made the weaker Christians in Rome stumble over eating food?

15. Why should a stronger Christian not make an issue out of neutral things?

16. What does it meant to cause someone to stumble?

17. Rather than food, what are the important issues in the Kingdom of God, according to Romans 14:17?

18. Whom should the strong Christian aim to please? Why?

19. What can happen with an inconsiderate misuse of Christian liberty?

20. How does Christian liberty fulfill God's moral law?

21. How is the expression of Christian freedom made possible?

Pondering the Principles

1. Consider how people are often enslaved to their work, their lovers, their hobbies, their bodies, or their goals to gain meaning in this life and acceptance by others. Also there are those who are enslaved to a religious system. Jesus said that "everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin" John 8:34; NASB). Praise God that He has given us the truth and that He sent His Son to make us free (vv. 32, 36). Memorize John 8:36: "If ... the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed" (NASB).

2. Meditate on the sixth chapter of Romans. As Christians we have been freed from the merciless bondage of sin and given over to a new and gracious Master. Therefore, we should strive to please Him by living righteous lives. Consider the example of Christ. Paul said, "Even Christ pleased not Himself" (Rom. 15:3). Christ's entire life was directed toward pleasing the Father in fulfilling His will (cf. Luke 2:49; John 4:32; 5:30; Mark 14:36). Are you committed to fulfilling your Lord's will? Prayerfully dedicate yourself to pleasing the One who has enlisted you as a "soldier of Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 2:3-4).