Freedom from the Law

Throughout the book of Galatians, we see that false teachings have crept into the church and perverted the truth of the gospel (Gal 1:6, 3:1), one of which being the issue of legalism.

To Paul’s devastation, the Galatians were rejecting the liberty they received from the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. Instead, they returned to the old Judaic belief that salvation was obtained through the keeping of the Mosaic laws– that through their works they can be justified before God (Gal 5:1).

As a result, the cross of Christ loses its meaning to them since they are forfeiting the free gift of justification given through Christ. Moreover, they would have to bear the burden of paying their debts to God if they ever fail to keep even one letter of the law (Gal 5:2-4).

Freedom of Salvation Grace

Today, our salvation comes from grace through faith in Christ. As explained in Galatians 5:5-6:

For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. (Gal 5:5-6).

What does this mean?

Our hope of salvation is built on our faith in God and His promises as recorded in the Bible, one of which is the redemption and forgiveness of sin through the shedding of Jesus’ blood, that whoever believes in Him may be saved from the second death (Eph 1:7, John 3:16, Rev 22:7-8).

And this faith in God is not merely an abstract concept. It is intertwined with the idea of love. If we truly have faith in God, we would demonstrate it through works of love (Gal 4:6, 13-14).

So the freedom that comes with salvation grace is that we no longer have to justify ourselves as righteous before God through the keeping of the whole Mosaic law, for through Christ’s death, our sins have been forgiven and we have been reconciled to God.

However, this does not mean that we can continue to live in sin (Gal 5:13). Through relying on His Spirit, We must strive to lead a righteous life while we wait to receive the final realization of our deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Gal 5:16, Rom 8:18-21, Eph 4:17-24, 1 John 3:7-10).

Freedom from Flesh

Salvation grace doesn’t just save us from eternal condemnation. We can experience God’s saving grace in our day to day as through His Spirit, we can be free from the bondage of sin.

Do you find yourself bound by sin in your daily life?

Perhaps you can’t help but harbour hatred and envy towards colleagues who seemingly have it better than us.

Or perhaps you find yourselves getting annoyed and arguing with your family members on the weekly.

Or perhaps no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to stop tongues from saying a certain cuss word when you accidentally stub your toe against the table.

Even when we know we’re wrong, it’s very difficult to stop ourselves from sinning. This is the nature of our flesh. It is only by the grace of God that we can be freed from the dominion of sin (Rom 6:14).

Our sinful nature is in direct contradiction to the Spirit and without the help of the Holy Spirit, we are bound by sin (Gal 5:17, Rom 8:18-24). When we allow ourselves to be led by His Spirit, we can triumph over sin as we gradually bear the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:18, 22-23).

It is useful for us to reflect often on whether or not we have borne the fruit of the Spirit.

Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
In the recent week, have you borne the fruit of the Spirit? Which aspect of the fruit of the Spirit have you been lacking in recently?

Conclusion

By the grace of God, we have been freed from needing to justify ourselves as righteous through the keeping of the whole Mosaic law. This is because Jesus has died as a propitiation for our sins, reconciling us to God.

But with this freedom, we must still strive to lead a righteous life through relying on the Holy Spirit to free us from our sinful nature.