(REFLECTIONS ON Galatians 5:1-15)

1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Paul writes to the Galatians that “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Isn’t this such a interesting statement? Perhaps some of us are thinking to ourselves, of course it is for freedom, or else why would we be set free? No one would think of being set free just to be enslaved again would they?

But yet this is exactly what the Galatians are doing. They are giving up their freedom in Christ, that Christ gave them through His death on the cross, and embracing a life of slavery under circumcision and the Law. The mind baffling thing about this is that they are going back to the state they were in before their freedom. What does that say about how they feel about the sacrifice Christ made for them?

Yes, perhaps we think this is ridiculous, but if we take a moment and think about it, do we many times also find ourselves in the same situation? Perhaps not with circumcision and the Law, but with the world, being bound again by the life that we left when we were called to follow Jesus.

Yes, Christ set us free for freedom. However, the danger in freedom, if we lose sight of Christ, is that we are free also to make unwise decisions in our life. We are free to be once again chained by the bounds of this world and the struggles that we once faced before we were set free.

Paul reminds the Galatians not to be burdened again by the yoke of slavery, meaning that they are using their freedom to be “not free” again. Did Jesus Christ die on the cross for them, for you and me, just so that we are living in the exact same state as we did before His sacrifice?

Do we then complain to Jesus and to God that after our freedom in Christ that we still struggle from the same challenges that we did before we put our trust in Him? Perhaps the issue isn’t the freedom that Jesus has given to us, but what we have done with that freedom. Are we truly free in Christ?

How then should we use our freedom? For it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Paul writes,

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 

May we use our freedom in Christ to serve one another humbly in love, for that is the reason he set us free. Gone should be the days where we serve ourselves and the world alone. Now we should use our freedom to serve one another humbly in love, to love God, and to love others. May we use our freedom responsibly, because Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is for love, not for slavery.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Galatians 5