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Christian
Freedom
INTRODUCTION
The
Apostle Paul made it abundantly clear that there was only one Gospel and
it was this gospel that he preached and would defend against all those who
would oppose any element of it. He
stressed that all other collections of doctrines were false; they were
perversions, designed to seduce the believers. Paul
insisted that justification came only by faith in Christ, and not by works
of any kind. Salvation
was by grace alone. He
pointed to the many attempts to keep people under systems, that could not
bring salvation.
He called the Galatians foolish for becoming
fascinated by troublemakers who were teaching a false gospel.
He pointed to their experience with the Holy
Spirit, and power and the blessings that the Spirit had brought to them. Paul made
it clear that Christ had come in fulfillment of the promise to the Fathers
and that the Law given to Before
Christ saved them, they were pagans, living an abominable lifestyle, under
the ‘elements’ of the world,
controlled by ungodly forces and behaving in an ungodly manner. A.C. Bouquet, in his famous book “Everyday Life in New Testament Times” described the awful life lived by the pagans in that day: “Anybody
can see that names of the days of the week in some languages of
Continental When
St. Paul in some of his letters speaks of people being enslaved under the
‘stoicheia’, for a long time it was uncertain what he meant, because
‘stoicheia’ can mean ‘ the alphabet’ or ‘the rudiments of
knowledge’, and to translate the word in this way does not seem to make
any good sense of the passages in Galatians 4 and Colossians 2. ‘Stoicheia’
is, however, also used for “the elements”, in the sense of “the
signs of the Zodiac” or “the planets”, and if we use this
translation we get very good sense. What
St. Paul aims at showing is that until people become Christians they are
enslaved by a belief in astrology, that is to say they think that the
planets control the events of life from day-to-day, and, as he says, they
observe days and months and seasons and years, and are always on the look
out for lucky and unlucky, auspicious and inauspicious days and even
hours, and therefore they have no real freedom, but are just puppets.
How
this worked we know a little bit from the books on astrology that were
written. The poet Juvenal
actually wrote a satire (No.6) against ladies who regulate every action by
their astrological books. There
were astrological predictions made in connection with every Roman Emperor
from the time of the crucifixion to the martyrdom of St. Peter, and one
whole poem called The Astronomica on astrology was written by a
writer called Manilius (believed to be first century).
He is not very well-known, but Professor Housman, who wrote The Mr.
F.H. Colson has given a good example of the sort of guidance that
astrologers provided for the public. (Although the source from which he
draws is a little later that the first century, it is quite typical.) He
takes the hour at which he is writing, namely about 12:30 PM on a Friday,
20th November. At this time of
year the sun rises about half past seven and sets shortly after four, and
the day-hours, according to Roman reckoning, would then be about 43
minutes each. At half past
twelve one would be in the eighth hour.
Venus is therefore the ruler of the hour as well as of the day.
What may happen to me at such a time?
According to the handbook quite a number of unlucky things. It
would seem that the planets rather enjoy tormenting human beings.
Thus my slave may run away (this is a thing that is predicted in
nearly all the astrological books of the period, and no doubt corresponds
rather with your daily help not turning up in the morning). Then I may
fall ill or I may lose or break something, or I may have a burglary, but
the influence being that of Venus, the burglar will be a soft womanish
kind of person, and will steal my earrings, and if my slave runs away he
will probably be found hiding with a woman in a public house.
It is a relief to know that although the illness will be a serious
one I shall recover. In about half an hour
one passes into the next or ninth hour of the day ruled by Mercury (i.e.
Hermes). In this case the properties stolen will be parchments or gilded
vessels, and the thief will be an educated or literary person.
The runaway slave will take refuge in a temple; but alas, any
illness contracted may end in death! One
may well judge what a relief it must have been to be delivered from
bondage to this pernicious nonsense by the clear fresh proclamations of
the gospel. Nevertheless,
astrology dies hard.” This
should make it clear to us exactly what Paul was speaking about in
Galatians. He certainly was
not attacking the Law given to “Ye
observe days, and months, and times, and years”
in chapter 4: 10 to refer to the Jewish
Sabbath, but that is exactly what people who should know better has been
doing but they are simply in error. These
interpreters have started out with incorrect and erroneous presuppositions
about It is
to be noted that Paul makes it clear, that in Christ believers have a New
Covenant in which the Law is written on the heart.
The life of Christ is now lived through the believers and therefore
they should never violate the principles of the Law. The
believer in Christ is no longer a slave to the rulers of the world, the
things of the flesh, or the things of the world, but is now free in
Christ. The Apostle moves on
to very insistently and emphatically demand that believers show the
practical results of this freedom in Christ. We are
now given a clear picture of the Christian life, a life lived according to
the Spirit, apart from but not contradictory to Law, which the Apostle
elsewhere describe as holy and perfect, but definitely a life not lived
according to license. Note
that this life of faith in Christ is being lived in a world that is
treacherous, that has powerful temptations and in which many tragic
circumstances occur. There are afflictions, persecutions, the risk of
martyrdom, ridicule, ostracism and many hard trials. On the
other side it is a life characterized by warm and intimate love for Jesus
and for the brethren. Integrity
is always maintained. There is
never any compromise with the things of the world.
There is no immorality. This
life reflects total faithfulness to God.
It consistently does the work of God and never lives on past glory
and achievements. It is always
alert to opportunities, compassionate even to the enemies and always seeks
the true riches found only in Christ. Opposed
to this life is the deadly sin of legalism.
Our text makes it abundantly clear that those who are in Christ
will live in a certain way, no exception.
This is practical living demanded of every true believer.
Some persons however do not like what they consider to be rules for
living. Before
we look at our text we should address this matter and differentiate
between legalism and obedience to the commandments of God. Legalism
is false Christianity and a fake, though it uses biblical terms and
Christian language.
It is different from a true belief in God or
true Christianity, for in true belief there is genuine behavior led by the
Spirit of God and motivated by a love for the glory and honor of God. There
is a Law, or a code to which God expects us to conform. When there is true
belief there is freedom not from the Law, but from the ‘curse
of the Law’. The
entire universe is governed by Law, a Law which reflects the character of
God, for God is the creator of all things and his character is the Law
that governs all things. The
Ten Commandments simply reflect the nature of God's character and so the
character of God is the standard by which believers should live.
True Christianity therefore cannot be freedom from the existence of
law. The
contrary position is both illogical and against the teachings of
Scripture. That position is
reflected in what is called antinomianism, which is considered to be a
deadly error. It is
important to realize at this stage that a person must have sufficient and
adequate power to live according to the character of God, or the Law.
This is where the gospel comes in, for God has given us the Good
News (the Gospel) that by faith in Jesus we have his power living in us,
always available to us, so that we will obey God. The
true believers know that there is always a standard and that this
standard, the Law of God, never changes and is always right.
True believers therefore know that it is wrong to murder, lie,
commit adultery, covet the things belonging to their neighbour, do
idolatry, steal and so on. Those
things can never be right. Those
fundamental Commandments of God, coming from the creation, has never
changed, for God is immutable. Note that legalism is really the following of the flesh or the old life, for there a person tries to do many religious things outside of the power of the Holy Spirit. It does what the Scriptures do not require, creating its own rules, Laws, standards, and limitations on behavior. Its motives are all wrong. One
writer puts it this way: “The
flesh is the old life, the natural life inherited from Adam, with its
apparent resources of personality, of ancestry, of commitment, of
dedication, and so forth. You
can do all kinds of religious things in the flesh.
The flesh can preach a sermon.
The flesh can sing in the choir.
The flesh can act as an usher.
The flesh can lead people to Christ.
The flesh can go out and be very zealous in it’s witnessing and
amass a terribly impressive list of people won to Christ, scalps to hang
on a belt. The flesh can do
these things but it is absolutely nauseating in the eyes of God.
It is merely religious activity.
There is nothing wrong with what is being done, but what is
terribly wrong is the power being relied upon to do it.
That is legality. It
is paramount that we understand that.
Because other Christians around you approve of what you are doing
is no sign at all that what you are doing is acceptable to God.
What you are doing must be done out of a reliance on the power he
provides or else it is nauseating, religious hypocrisy, in his sight, and
it will ultimately prove to be that in the eyes of others as well. You
can go wrong in the motives which moves you to do things.
Legality is also the fulfilling of external requirements for
reasons of self- exaltation or personal merit.
Why do you do things? Are
you trying to build a reputation for yourself?
Do you want a name as a spiritual Christian?
And so you let it be known how many bible verses you memorize each
week, how many hours you spend in prayer, and how much you give to the
missions. That is exactly on
par with the religion of the Pharisees. Legality is a mechanical and external behavior growing out of reliance on self, because of a desire to gain a reputation, display a skill, or satisfy an urge to personal power. It is religious performance, scrupulous and meticulous in its outward form, but, inwardly, as Jesus described it, “filled with dead men's bones”. It is relying on self, personality, background, training, and talent or skill instead of the Spirit of God. And it is operating for and on behalf of one's personal glory. The thing that is appalling to us is to remember that there is no way to cheat in this matter. God knows our hearts… The Scriptures suggest a very simple and unfailing remedy: Repent and believe-that is all. Repent of it. Change your mind about it. Don't justify it. Don't call it something else. Don't try to cover it up and pretend that it is something acceptable. You may fool the people around you but you won't fool God. He knows. So repent of it. Admit it… Legality is hypocrisy. Legality is phony Christianity. It is a false way to trying to appear right, and therefore, it is a stench in the nostrils of the God of truth who loves to have people be honest and true as he made them to be. ” Being
in the Spirit, in freedom, is set forth as completely opposite and against
being in the ‘flesh’, or in ‘slavery’. The
new identity of the believer automatically involves new behavior.
Believers have the mind of Christ. The ‘works of the flesh’ are
rejected. Everything God established in the Garden of Eden and that Adam
and Eve learned in their frequent walks with God in that paradise will be
held onto firmly. THE
TEXT Verse
1. Chapter
4 is here summarized. Christ
has made believers free from ‘bondage’, a terribly burdensome state,
so that they can live in freedom. Children
of promise, free sons and daughters of God, with A religion of bondage and a religion of freedom cannot be mixed. The true gospel preached Abraham and exemplified in the Law is brought by Messiah and all distortions introduced therein by men must be rejected. To
“ Stand firm” means to commit oneself diligently to uphold the
freedom which Christ as brought to his children.
The Apostle admonishes that all believers are personality
responsible if they fall back into bondage, for it is their choice and
their decision to allow themselves to fall into that terrible condition. Jews
have no excuse when they reject Messiah and the leading of the Spirit that
he brings, nor do Gentiles have any excuse when they revert to their pagan
beliefs and practices. The leading of the Holy Spirit must be the normal condition and if there is any relaxation of diligent commitment, one will fall back into their former bondage. Verse
2. One
kind of such entanglement would result from submitting to a demand for
circumcision. By so doing one
would be seeking to achieve righteousness by doing a work, believing that
circumcision would bring justification.
Since the believers were declared righteous through faith in the
work of Christ, circumcision would not be meaningful.
Circumcision was not necessary for salvation and anyone who became
circumcised believing that this was necessary for salvation, was adding
works to faith, and showing that they did not have faith in the
sufficiency of Christ. Paul
insists that circumcision is not just a ritual act which might be
inconvenient and painful, but which had to be endured to make one more
spiritual, and connect one to God. For
Gentiles to be circumcised means that they had accepted the binding
obligations of the pre-New Covenant Law, which was based on the
determination that the Messiah had not yet come and that these things had
to be done as part of the necessary practices which led one to Messiah. If
one assumed that the coming of Messiah meant nothing, one automatically
had brought one self under the Law and one therefore had to do everything
that the Law required. The Law
was the thing that God had established to guard men against sin and to
point them to the coming Messiah. The thought of submitting to circumcision was in itself a more serious issue and the Galatians had thought, for by so doing, they were contradicting the teaching about why Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ had come, lived, and died. Verse
3. The Apostle asserts that the true way to
righteousness is through the Spirit, received by faith. The person who
does not understand that the promised Seed has come, and has brought
redemption and who prefers to revert to the Old Covenant instead of the
New Covenant brought by the Messiah, has actually rejected the Word of
God. That person prefers to seek his salvation by doing the works of the Law, believing that he is able and has sufficient power in himself to satisfy the perfect demands of God. That person has assumed an obligation of obeying the entire Law perfectly, obviously possessing an extraordinarily high opinion of himself. He thinks that he is better than Messiah, and can, like Messiah, keep the entire Law perfectly. But Messiah had come in the ‘fullness of time’ to institute the New Covenant, precisely because of the weakness of men. Verse 4.
Their actions meant Christ had become of none effect, for they were
seeking justification by their own works, as if there was no Christ, no
righteousness in him, and no salvation to be had from him.
They did not need him. They trusted in themselves. They were
regarding themselves as being righteous. Those
people accepting circumcision would have fallen away from the God
appointed method of ‘salvation by grace’, choosing instead an
ineffectual route to salvation. The love of God, and the peace of God brought by Jesus Christ had been rejected, they were fallen from grace. Verse 5.
They stood in opposition to and separate from those among whom the
Apostle included himself, who operated in the power of the Holy Spirit,
and not in the flesh. Those believers in the Spirit would thus wait for the full consummation of righteousness, the “crown of righteousness laid up” (2 Timothy 4: 8), the hope laid up in Heaven, since the Spirit had been given to them as a down payment on life in the future. For
these Christ is the hope and we wait for his appearance, for he will bring
eternal glory. That is the
anticipation of the believer, who possesses the Holy Spirit, as the
believer continually receives the foretastes of that glory.
This faith exists in every genuine believer, for they look for the
receiving of the end of their faith. (1 Peter 1: 9) Paul
makes it clear to both Jew and Gentile that believers are not to give in,
not to compromise and not to go back to following the practices of the
past. Once compromise and mixing begins, everything will get out of
control and the believer will be back on the road to slavery. The danger of falling out of grace is real, for this happens when one moves away from complete and continuing reliance on God. To relinquish grace, is to put oneself on a painful road, that might even lead to the acid test and prove that one was not even a true believer.
Verse 6. Those in Jesus Christ, recognizing who he is, know that he is the only one who brings salvation to the circumcised or the uncircumcised. Believers know that it is only that love brought by Christ, that is inseparable from faith, which is important to God. Those walking in the Holy Spirit know that being circumcised or being uncircumcised means nothing. Faith must express itself through love to God, which always lead to obedience to him. True Faith works, it is never idle. Faith works by showing love to both God and to the brethren, and this love is at the center of the Christian life. Verse 7.
Paul congratulated the Galatians for having run well in the
Christian life, which he described as a race. They had held on to the
faith at first, been zealous for the truth of the Gospel, diligently did
what they were supposed to do, had great interest in the things of God,
were always cheerful and tireless in promoting the ways of Christ,
following after truth and holiness. Paul clearly want to get them out of
their down sliding. But
now someone had caused them to stumble in the race.
They had broken their stride. Paul encouraged them to go on and not turn aside to another gospel. No one prevented them from continuing to obey the truth, for it was only because they had given their consent to error, that had caused them to turn aside. It is not enough to start well, but to continue well, to persevere and to overcome unto the end. Verse 8.
The influence that had caused them to turn aside was neither from
God nor from the Spirit. This
persuasion must have come from Satan and from his false apostles, the
enemy of their souls. Though
Paul asked this question he very well knew who was the source of the
hindrance to them. Satan will always seek to turn believers aside from
their course and to put stumbling blocks in the way. The better they are
running, the more significant the danger. Clearly,
the truth must be believed and obeyed. There can be no deviation from the
truth. Anything that takes a believer from strict reliance on Christ and
his entire gospel is from Satan. Satan has spread a broad table and he
offers deviations to suit every taste, deviations are made small and
great. Persuasion is a most effective weapon that Satan uses to turn believers from truth to error. Persuaders are often geniuses and gullibility in believers, young and old, is a terrible weakness. Verse 9.
The Apostle Paul then used a proverbial expression to warn them
that the result of a small error in doctrine is increasing ungodliness.
As a small infection spreads disease through the entire body, false
doctrine would influence their entire conduct, so that they would
eventually become perverted. When
a believer does not examine himself and spot sin, a lot of damage will be
done as the sin festers. A small sin, if not dealt with, will grow and
corrupt any church. This
principle indicates it is dangerous for churches to entertain men with
errors, which by their nature are destructive. Given
the corruption in human nature, and the fatal inclinations of the flesh,
contagion will always spread wider and wider. Satan tests us by introducing small errors and watch how we respond. When we fall in this “little” thing, he subtly introduces progressively more dangerous errors. Slide is always downward. Verse 10.
The Apostle Paul declared his confidence that God would preserve
them and would keep them from danger and retreating into sin.
They had not gone so far that they could not be brought back again.
God would not allow them to be carried away with the error of the
wickedness they had been taught. Paul's
confidence is in God and he knows that the destiny of these believers
rests in the hands of the God who called, saved, and justified them. Our
destiny is in the hand of a faithful God who perseveres. It
is amazing how the Apostle could be confident when faced with this
distressing situation. Here
were his ‘children’ who were being disloyal to him and even more
importantly to their Savior. Apparently there was a particular troublemaker, most prominent among the false brethren, who was creating the most mischief and trouble. The apostle warned that he would be condemned for his part in the mischief. He would suffer his due judgment. Verse 11. Paul
differentiated himself from those who preached circumcision as a route to
salvation, by pointing out that if that had been his teaching, he would
not have been persecuted and his persecutors would have no reason to
follow him around and oppose him. It
seems that a group were even using the argument that Paul advocated
circumcision. Others may have
regarded Paul's teaching as inadequate and bordering on an offence,
because he taught about the Cross, a teaching that clearly meant that man
was totally unable to contribute anything to his salvation.
The teaching of the Cross and its significance meant that
circumcision was unnecessary for salvation.
Salvation was to be found only in Christ. He makes it clear that he does not preach the necessity of circumcision but instead preaches the offence of the Cross and the necessity of accepting everything that the Cross taught. Verse 12. The Apostle
Paul was so concerned that the purity of the gospel be maintained, that he
uttered a wish that the judgment of God thwart the plans of the false
teachers, so that their false ideas would be withdrawn. The
words do not necessarily mean that he wished that they died but it was
certainly a strong expression of disapproval. Some believe that Paul was being very sarcastic and went so far as to suggest that those who preached circumcision might as well go ahead and carry their doctrine to its “illogical and unacceptable conclusion”. As one writer puts it: “
In short, they taught that circumcision contributed to a man's
righteousness. If this were
really true, Paul queries, then why not press the matter even further?
If cutting off a little flesh is good, cutting off much flesh is
even better. Why not be so
pious as to castrate oneself? Now
this is a bit extreme for even the Judaizers. First, the Old Testament Law
forbade a castrated man from entering the assembly of the Lord. (Deut
23:1).No Jew would ever have considered going this far. In
addition, well known to the Galatian saints was the pagan ritual of the
priests of Cybele in which they castrated themselves.
To go to this extent was to imitate the heathen. From the Old
Testament Scripture and contemporary culture, the Galatians would
recognize castration as too extreme, and yet it was the logical extension
of their doctrine. As this
illustration graphically reveals, the horrifying thoughts of castration
was intended to show the Galatians that the Judaizers had gone too far.” Verse 13.
The reason for this intense disapproval stemmed from his desire
that they stay in the liberty of the Spirit. In
this liberty of the Spirit the brethren would be led by their intense love
for each other. They would
serve one another and not show the evil tendencies of the flesh, to damage
and hurt one another. Clearly
in our kind of warfare we need to be in the Spirit and the liberty given
by the Spirit to fight the flesh. Whatever
fears people might have, they must recognize that freedom in the Spirit
would not lead to license, says Paul. We must note the radical nature and importance of Paul's statement, for the world of his had been described as lawless chaos. One writer notes the situation by the following quotations: “Demosthenes writes …” We keep mistresses for pleasure, concubines for the day-to-day needs of the body, but we have wives in order to produce children legitimately and to have a trustworthy guardian of our homes”. (Against Neaera, quoted, Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 573B). “
Chastity is simply a proof of ugliness” (Seneca, On
Benefits 3.16.1-3) Innocence,
says Seneca is not rare, it is nonexistent (On Anger 2,8). Juvenal
paints the picture of the Roman woman passing the altar of Modesty with a
cynical smile (Juvenal, Satires 6.308). “The
greater the infamy, the wilder the delight”, says Tacitus (Tacitus,
Annals 11.26) Still
worse was the unnatural vice which was rampant.
It began in the Imperial household. Caligula notoriously lived in
habitual incest with his sister Drusilla, and the lust of Nero did not
even spare his mother Agrippina (Seutonius, Caligula 34; Nero 28). The
sin of homosexuality was even more prevalent in Paul's day that it is
today. From the highest to the
lowest society was riddled with homosexuality.
This was a vice which Into
one of his dialogues Lucian makes Lycinus relate: ‘It were better not to
need marriage, but to follow Plato and Socrates and to be content within
love of boys’ (Lucian, The Lapiths 39)… Plato’s
“Symposium” ranks as one of the great works of literature.
It's subject is love, but it is homosexual love. Barclay
draws the following conclusion “ it has been said that chastity was the
one completely new virtue which Christianity introduced into the pagan
world.” The writer continues: “With
the prevalence of such immorality in the Gentile culture, it is easy to
understand the apprehension of the Jewish legalists .To prevent such
corruption they felt that the rigors and restrictions of the law were best
imposed upon the Gentile saint. Nevertheless, the Judaizers were wrong. Paul’s words in Verse 13 makes it clear that the freedom which the gospel gives is not the freedom to sin, but freedom from sin. Biblical freedom does not cater to the flesh, but crucifies it. Indulging the flesh is merely slavery to it, and thus is not freedom at all.” Verse 14.
In this relationship of love there would be no license.
The liberty would not lead to exhibitions of lust, that come from
the old nature. They
would pray for each other, bear each other’s burdens, sympathize with
each other, forbear and forgive each other, correct each other when
needed, instruct and build up each other, and stir each other to do what
God required. When one loves and through love serve one another, the flesh will have no part in the Christian life. This service through love fulfills the great commandment. It is interesting to note this comment by one writer “
The simple idea of loving your neighbor as yourself has been twisted into
the idea of putting self love as the foundation for a healthy human
personality; instead, the simple idea is that as we naturally take care of
ourselves we should also take care of others. The primary meaning is not that we must properly love ourselves before we can love others… but that we are to love our neighbor with the same spontaneity and alacrity (speed) with which we love ourselves.” (Fung) Verse 15.
They should not be continually fighting and destroying one another.
No anger, ill will, unkindness, and displays of temper to destroy
the peace of the soul should be shown.
They should not injure each other. The Apostle advised that they walk in the Spirit, a position that would rule out demonstrations of sinful actions, which predominate in the old Adamic nature. If they continued to quarrel and to fight each other, they would lose their personal testimony, and destroy the Church. Verse 16. The Apostle instructed the Galatians to walk in the Spirit, that is, to literally keep on walking through life in dependence on the Holy Spirit for guidance and power. This would ensure that the natural man, the flesh, would not be able to guide them in the ways of evil, since the leading of the Spirit would automatically exclude the leading of the flesh. CONCLUSION Every
believer has left the past, and must never go back to it. Let
us walk in the Spirit, live a life of faith in Christ, live in his
holiness and in communion with him. The
Spirit has all the necessary power to help, guide and assist us. We must
resist vainglory, envy, boasting in our accomplishments and alleged
superiority to others. Rather we must do everything necessary to have
others continue to live in the graces of God. There is
divine enablement in the Holy Spirit.
He has made believers alive. Every
believer must keep in step with the Spirit.
The Christian walk must always conform to the Spirit's direction
and empowerment. Note that
this also teaches that there is no particular act that, as one writer puts
it :“produces in the believer a ‘quantum leap” in his spiritual
status”. Let us however show the reality of our saving experience by loving the brethren.
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