Life Project Blog

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. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Galatians 5:13-15

At this point in the letter, we see a more conventional Paul than we have thus far. He points out, as if summing up the previous discussion, that our calling as followers of Jesus Christ is a calling of freedom, but there is a warning.  When Paul says “the flesh” in his writings, he is talking about a life that is centered around the needs of the body, things like food, possessions, luxuries, desires, lusts and self-centered wants. He is not talking about the human body itself, the human body is fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image, it is not in and of itself evil or bad.

If we should live our lives as others do, simply filling our days by attending to selfish desires and physical sensations, we are not living in freedom despite what many would suggest.  Freedom in Christ means that we can move far beyond such an empty and shallow existence so that we can do something meaningful and eternally significant, which is to serve one another in love.  Again, he refers to the Law, but this time he does so in the positive, reminding his readers that the entire Law is fulfilled in one command, to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Thus, the requirements of the Law can actually be kept without its condemnation entering into our lives: Love is the answer.

On the other hand, if we fight and squabble amongst ourselves, we will all be devoured.

I am always struck by the fact that for so long we have taken the whole “love” angle as a sort of academic, theoretical, abstract concept, rather than simply putting it into practice.  What is so hard to understand here; ‘love’ is simplicity itself! Yet, at the same time that we have complicated “love your neighbor,” we have spent the greater portion of our time pointing fingers of condemnation at one another: To what purpose, I’d like to know. Has anyone’s life been made better? Has anyone received blessing and reward for their efforts? Not according to Paul!

Love your neighbor as yourself; serve one another in love.  Everybody benefits, the Kingdom is built up, and we can live free of chains.  I don’t know about you, but that’s the path I’m choosing!

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.

 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Galatians 5:1-6

Paul continues into the fifth chapter making his case for two distinct covenants.  He opens with the statement that Christ has set us free and then moves into an exhortation for us to remain free in Christ, and never to go back again to slavery under the Law. He states it so very clearly in verse 2: “mark my words…” Entering into the Law will do no good, carrying the sign of an already fulfilled covenant will do no good.  Stronger still, he tells us that if we seek to reenter the Law, we will be “alienated from Christ” and “fallen away from grace.”   Quite frankly, it seems incomprehensible to me that anyone can read these words and be confused about their meaning.

In the final line, he comes to the crux: The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

Galatians 5:7-12

The Galatians had gotten off to a good start, but somewhere along the path, somebody “cut in” to divert them to a different path; this kind of teaching is not from God.  Paul’s reference to yeast goes back to the Old Testament imagery of yeast as sin, thus a little sin makes its way through the entire group.  Then, Paul seems to be saying that he is confident that the Galatians will not listen to them anymore, yet he still isn’t quite finished with his rant…

He points out that these false teachers will pay the price for their actions, and lest anyone should think that Paul was behind these teachings, he reminds them that if he were teaching circumcision, the Jewish authorities wouldn’t still be persecuting him. Finally, he makes one more statement.  It seems to me that Paul has tried several methods to make his case against the teaching of first becoming a Jew, and then and only then receiving Christ.  He has chided, reasoned, encouraged and exhorted.  In case anyone hadn’t gotten the point yet he has one more thing to say, this time of a rather personal nature.

You might ask why it is that Paul is so passionate about this issue.  Why did he go to such lengths and give the Galatians such a chewing out?

You’re free to disagree with me of course, but I think that the answer is really simple.  When someone adds to, or subtracts from the Gospel, that person is perverting the Gospel.  Since the Gospel is the “power of God to salvation,” this kind of perversion undermines the very eternal purpose of God. As a consequence, it is not merely a different interpretation or a differing opinion; it is rebellion against God all over again.  Its source, as Paul has clearly stated, is not God.  With that in mind, let’s ask ourselves what the source might be, if it isn’t God.  Could it be a simple misunderstanding, or would it really come from a more sinister origin?

I’ll let you be the judge of that one, but I would add one more question: Who stands to gain by perverting the “power of God to salvation”?

 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.

These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written:

“Be glad, barren woman,
    you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
    you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
    than of her who has a husband.”

Galatians 4:21-27

It’s funny, every time I read this I’m surprised, even though I know what’s coming.  This was radical in Paul’s day, and for some reason it’s still radical in our day. It flies in the face of the teaching of many Christians concerning Israel, and yet there it is…

The really radical part begins with verse 24: “These things are taken figuratively” Then, “The women represent two covenants…” In his analysis, taken under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul is stating quite clearly that Hagar and Ishmael represent the Old Covenant (the Law of Moses) and that Sarah and Isaac represent the New Covenant. But wait, there’s more…!

Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

Galatians 4:28-31

We are children of the promise as Isaac was the son of promise.  This is the promise that God made to Abraham, the promise that his descendants would be more numerous that the stars in the heavens or the grains of sand on the shore, and that all of the nations of the earth would be blessed though them.  Earlier in this letter, Paul indicated that Jesus was that descendant, the seed.  Here, through Christ, Paul is telling us that we carry this forward as descendants of Abraham not according to the flesh, but according to the promise of God. Yes, just as Isaac was persecuted by Ishmael, so the church was persecuted by the Jews in Paul’s day, but as Hagar and Ishmael were driven out by Abraham, so now those who persecuted the church would be driven out, for they would not inherit the promise.

Honestly, I’m not sure how much clearer it could be, and there is still more to come in the next chapter…