Like an anthem cry, this beautiful scripture resonates deeply with everyone. Yet it can mean almost anything! The power to exercise free will? Political freedom? Set free from guilt and judgement? Set free from living in sin?
From the context, St. Paul is clearly saying that we are set free from our obligation to obey the Moasic law. That sounds dangerous – indeed, some in the early church believed it permitted them to live a morally care-free life. (Romans 3:8, Revelation 2:14) But in fact we are called to live to a moral standard greater than what the law demands, as Jesus plainly stated in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:20).
This is what freedom in Christ is all about. Only when we stop being law-obedient can we be set free to become Spirit-obedient in order to fulfil the law. That was Paul’s point of the whole letter of Galatians, perhaps the first letter he penned. If our Christian living has been focused on obeying rules, then we’ve missed this main point on how Christians are to live.
“But now, having died (with Christ, by faith) to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code”( Romans 7:5-6).
Paul stated this point more strongly elsewhere, saying that the righteousness he earned through his blameless law-abiding life was as bad as filthy dung (Philippians 3:8). In other words, we don’t acquire Jesus’ righteousness through faith and then expect to return to the law that was impossible to obey in the first place.
This is how the Christian life works
This is how the Christian life works: we are set free to love others by the infilling of the Holy Spirit’s power to love. Our selfishness is at the root of all sinful behaviour and while the law had aimed to ameliorate that, it always failed to do so because it takes a change of heart to love others unselfishly – the one that Jesus gives us when we become born of the Spirit.
Paul explains why obedience to the law cannot work very clearly in Romans 8:7,8: “…because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.”
Love is the outworking of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and this fulfils the law.
“For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” (Galatians 5:13,14). All that matters is faith, expressed through love. (Galatians 5:5)
Paul’s description of “walk by the Spirit” equates to Jesus’ description of “remain in me.” “If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.” (John 15:10).
It is because we love God that we are obedient to what he directs us to do, and that is simply abiding in His divine love.
That may sound like law, but we recognise that “commandments” are the Father’s instructions that we obey as we hear what He is saying. Clearly, it is out of love relationship that we “obey”. “In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” (1st John 5:3) In other words, it is because we love God that we are obedient to what he directs us to do, and that is simply abiding in His divine love.
And as Paul explained that the outcome of walking in the Spirit is the fruit of love (Galatians 5:22,23), so Jesus explained the same outcome of remaining in him: “The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). In fact, we learn to love and bear fruit because of our love relationship with the Father: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19).
All this points to the critical truth that it is not to the law we have a relationship, but to the Father Himself and this operates on the basis of love and devotion – for Him as well as us.
The chief point of contrast, as mentioned earlier, is no longer living a life of selfishness and indulgence in pleasure.
· Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24).
· His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness… so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires (2nd Peter 1:14).
· Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1st John 2:15).
Conclusion: Beware of following the law
· You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. (Galatians 5:4)
· I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing. (Galatians 2:21)
· “So, I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh… But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (Galatians 5:16,18)
· Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1b)
I love your emphasis on freedom through the Spirit. One of my favorite scripture verses contains this kernel of truth. "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life," (2 Corinthians 3:6c.) "Letter" meaning legalism of the law. I believe we start by seeking the Holy Spirit in our lives by faith in Jesus, which leads to the desire to be obedient to the teachings of Jesus through love and through the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. We live by the law of love, a new law, loving God first and others second. Through the freedom of the Spirit, we find ourselves wanting to have His Word in our hearts, permeating our beings, loving the unlovable and the helpless and the hopeless. Thanks for reminding us that we are not to live in legalism, but in spiritual truth which we find in His Word.