Articles
Free In Christ - Gal. 5
Free In Christ - Gal. 5
”It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). Jesus promise: “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32).
Paul has shown that BEFORE Jesus, the Jewish people were “shut up under sin” and “in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed” (3:23).
NOW, in Christ, believers have been freed from the demands of that law and also its consequence: death as the judicial sentence for sins. Believers are NOT free from obedience and they are NOT free TO ungodliness and sin (keep reading! – vs. 7, vs. 13).
The reason for the instruction to ‘stand fast in this liberty’ is the presence of the very real danger of becoming enslaved again. Some were teaching that these believers, now that they have believed and been baptized into Christ, they needed to “observe the Law of Moses” and “unless they are circumcised… they cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1, 5).
To receive circumcision under THOSE conditions would be to go BACK to being enslaved: they would again be bound to keep ALL of the law (5: 3) and would again be cursed for not keeping ALL of the law (3:10; Deut. 27:26). This would also cause them to be “severed from Christ” and “fallen from grace” (5:4). Thus, Christ at that point would be of no benefit (5:2).
Thus, when such teaching began among the disciples, Paul stated that “we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you” (Galatians 2:5).
Was this a real danger? Some would argue that those who succumbed to this only prove that they were never ‘real believers’! If not ‘real believers’, then they were unbelievers, and if they were unbelievers they were not ‘connected to and united with’ Christ, and hence they could not be ‘severed from Christ’ and He did not ‘become’ of no benefit for He would never have been a benefit. No, these were brethren who were in danger! Thus the NEED to STAND FAST.
The more we comprehend and appreciate the freedom we have in Christ, the less likely it is for us to be moved away from the truth. In this we see the benefit of constant prayer, worship, study, and fellowship with steadfast believers. Are you taking advantage of God’s provisions to help you stand fast?
Hugh DeLong
