Freedom (Galatians)

I think freedom is one of the deepest longings of the human heart.

Wars have been fought, songs have been sung, philosophies developed – all for the cause of freedom. So it should not surprise us that when Jesus entered into human history — some of his earliest public words in a synagogue came from the book of Isaiah — and Jesus said he was fulfilling it: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me…He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners…to set the oppressed free.”

In the John passage read earlier, Jesus said “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” And in Galatians, freedom is the theme. Galatians has been called the charter of Christian liberty. Chapter 5:1 says:

“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.”

When I was here Memorial Day weekend, I spoke on Romans 5 and the great doctrine of justification. Galatians is also about justification but Paul’s approach and reason for writing is different. Galatians is a corrective letter. There is a crisis.

Paul is astounded and even outraged at times as he writes this letter to the Christians in Galatia. So what is going on?

Galatia is located in what is now modern day Turkey. These gentile Christians (not from a Jewish background) had been gloriously saved by grace though faith in Christ. And Paul, after a brief greeting, jumps right into it! Galatians 1:6-7 says:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

False teachers had arrived telling them that faith in Jesus was not enough, and that they also had to be circumcised and follow the OT Law – meaning different rules and rituals of the Old Testament.

At first, we could think that this has nothing to do with us today –

but there are modern parallels. It is the conflict between grace and law, or faith and deeds.

Because the Galatian Christians had gotten confused, Paul had to take them back to the starting line. Their spiritual journey was drifting off course, because they deserted their gospel beginning. Paul goes to great lengths to clarify the gospel. Galatians 2:16 says, “know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

Paul is repetitive! Three times in that verse he says that we are not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Christ. Do you sense, perhaps, some frustration on Paul’s part – that he goes so overboard to make the point.

Remember to be justified is to be seen as just or righteous in God’s sight. How does a person come into a right relationship with God? How can we be seen as justified or righteous in the sight of a holy God? There is no more important question in this world than that one. Your eternal destiny depends on it.

In Galatians 2:20-21 Paul continues: “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Wow. That verse ends in an exclamation point by the way. It is hard to get clearer than that. If our good deeds could gain us God’s favor and make us righteous, then Christ died for nothing.

— So, what about the law? The 10 Commandments are part of the Old Testament law and certainly these are a good code by which to live.

We should not lie, steal, commit adultery, murder, and so on. Society is a better place when people are honest, honor their marriage vows, respect life, and so on.

But the law is NOT good if we are relying on it to make us right with God. In fact, Paul calls it a curse. In Galatians 3:10-11 states: “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’ Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because ‘the righteous will live by faith.’”