Intro

The passage that is speaking to me the most this week is Galatians 5.  This post will explore some of the major themes in that chapter, and their relevance for today.

Scripture and Commentary

Theme #1: We no longer need to obey the Old Testament laws, we are justified by faith in Christ

Galatians 5:1-6

Christ has set us free to enjoy our freedom. So remain strong in the faith. Don’t let the chains of slavery hold you again.  2 Here is what I, Paul, say to you. Don’t let yourselves be circumcised. If you do, Christ won’t be of any value to you. 3 I say it again. Every man who lets himself be circumcised must obey the whole law. 4 Some of you are trying to be made right with God by obeying the law. You have been separated from Christ. You have fallen away from God’s grace. 5 But we long to be made completely holy because of our faith in Christ. Through the Holy Spirit we wait for this in hope. 6 Circumcision and uncircumcision aren’t worth anything to those who believe in Christ Jesus. The only thing that really counts is faith that shows itself through love.

It is critical that we remember the old covenant is dead, and that we have a new, and better, covenant instead.  What counts is that we have faith in Christ, demonstrated by the fruits of the Holy Spirit through love.

Theme #2: Beware of being enslaved by false doctrine, and especially of spreading false doctrine

Galatians 5:7-12

7 You were running a good race. Who has kept you from obeying the truth? 8 The God who chooses you does not keep you from obeying the truth. 9 You should know that “just a little yeast works its way through the whole batch of dough.” 10 The Lord makes me certain that you will see the truth of this. The one who has gotten you all mixed up will have to pay the price. This will happen no matter who has done it. 11 Brothers and sisters, I no longer preach that people must be circumcised. If I did, why am I still being opposed? If I preached that, then the cross wouldn’t upset anyone. 12 So then, what about troublemakers who try to get others to be circumcised? I wish they would go the whole way! I wish they would cut off everything that marks them as men!

Preaching condemnation has become popular in the church today, and I feel it is choking out the fruits we are meant to bear.  If fruit is being produced at all, often it is bitter indeed!  This week I had a sister in Christ tell me that God will never answer my prayers because I live among murderers (women who have had abortions) whoremongers (women who found themselves in the market for an abortion) and evil deviants (homosexuals).  All of this because I happen to reside in California!  I had replied to a message she wrote saying that she was praying for God to have North Korea drop a nuclear weapon on California to wipe out all the evil people and restore our nation.  I tried to gently point out that we have a very large contingent of Christians here, and that a good deal of local and international ministry is supported out of California.  The above was her reply, and she was not alone.  Many other brothers and sisters echoed her comments, all of them praying that God will send nuclear destruction to our country!  This is definitely not faith showing itself through love; however, rather than be angry it is important to realize that these siblings have fallen into the condemnation trap through false teaching.  We need to pray for this spirit of condemnation to be broken, and for the truth to set them free and restore their fruits.

Theme #3: Be led by the Holy Spirit, with love keeping us from sin

Galatians 5:13-18

13 My brothers and sisters, you were chosen to be free. But don’t use your freedom as an excuse to live under the power of sin. Instead, serve one another in love. 14 The whole law is fulfilled by obeying this one command. “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18) 15 If you say or do things that harm one another, watch out! You could end up destroying one another.16 So I say, live by the Holy Spirit’s power. Then you will not do what your desires controlled by sin want you to do. 17 The desires controlled by sin do not want what the Spirit delights in. And the Spirit does not want what the desires controlled by sin delight in. The two are at war with each other. That’s why you are not supposed to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the authority of the law.

Here we again have freedom from the law, along with the truism that “love thy neighbor” fulfills the law.  Notice it is “thy neighbor” and not merely “thy brother/sister”, implying that even those murders, whoremongers, and evil deviants need to be held on par with ourselves in love, but without participation in the same sins.  We want to be more like Abraham praying for the salvation of Sodom (Genesis 18) and much less like Jonah pouting over the redemption of Nineveh (Jonah 4). Christ admonishes us to love even our enemies (Matthew 5).

Theme #4: Uh-oh, we don’t get to pick on just the easy-to-avoid sins

Galatians 5:19-21

19 The result of sin’s control in our lives is clear. It includes sexual sins, impure acts and wild living. 20 It includes worshiping statues of gods and worshiping evil powers. It also includes hatred and fighting, jealousy and fits of anger. Sinful desire is interested only in getting ahead. It stirs up trouble. It separates people into their own little groups. 21 It wants what others have. It gets drunk and takes part in wild parties. It does many things of that kind. I warn you now as I did before. People who live like this will not receive God’s kingdom.

This passage starts out so great for those stuck in condemnation.  After all, most of us manage to avoid the wild living and idol worship without too much effort.  But then Paul continues with hatred, jealousy, angry fits (road rage, anyone?) self-promotion, excessive ambition, and divisiveness.  Uh oh.  Suddenly we have lumber in our own eyes.  Now we need God’s grace again, and we are back at the foot of the cross with the murders, whoremongers….you see where this is going.

Theme #5: Fruits of the Holy Spirit as proof of our walk with Christ

Galatians 5:22-26

22 But the fruit the Holy Spirit produces is love, joy and peace. It is being patient, kind and good. It is being faithful 23 and gentle and having control of oneself. There is no law against things of that kind. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed their sinful desires to his cross. They don’t want these things anymore. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become proud. Let us not make each other angry. Let us not want what belongs to others.

The Bible tells us in many places that you can tell a good tree from an evil tree by the fruit it produces (Matthew 3, Matthew 7, Matthew 12, John 15) and that the source of this fruit is love (Philippians 1) and the knowledge of the Holy Spirit (Colossians 1).  I pray that each of us will grow in this knowledge, and live Spirit-filled lives that bear bushels of sweet fruits.

 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts, please share.

Be blessed.

K