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GALATIANS - I Have Been Crucified With Christ
Studies in the Letter of Paul to the Galatians
PART 4: FREEDOM FROM THE LAW OF MOSES IS THE FOUNDATION OF CONDUCT IN THE HOLY SPIRIT (Galatians 5:1 – 6:18)
1. Stand fast in the liberty of Christ (Galatians 5:1-12)
GALATIANS 5:1-6
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
In the time of the Romans, millions were carried off as slaves of war, whose freedom was only possible if someone paid a lot of money for them, or if those slaves presented to the Roman temples gradually the money, they gathered until it reached a certain amount. Then the master of the slave receives the price of his slave from the treasury of the temple, the slave enrolls himself newly as a slave of the god of the temple and is considered a free man, and no one can own him any further, having become free under the protection of the god.
In like manner, Christ purchased us from the bondage of the law and sin, and freed us from the fear of death and condemnation by paying the blood of his life for us that we might willfully enroll ourselves as his slaves in love. Therefore, we must not commit ourselves to any master other than him who purchased us, and gave his life to deliver us.
Dear brother, you are free from the powers of corruption, and the devil cannot overcome you because you live in the expanses of Christ, and his power protects you. However, if you willfully leave your Lord, steal yourself from his custody, and resort to yourself by legalistic factors, you will be like a vessel anchored at the harbor of the law, and you will not be able to be at the harbor of Christ at the same time. Therefore, you have either to be secure in Christ, or to be disturbed in the law. He, who accepts circumcision, which is the symbol of the law, and considers this practice as a proof of his purification, and a guarantee of his union with the people of God, deceives himself to a great extent.
Circumcision may be useful only for healthy purposes. It has no effect on the purity or impurity of the heart at all. A circumcised man, according to the old covenant, is obliged to observe all the letters, judgments, and obligations of the law, as a slave of the law. Therefore, the Gentiles who were committed to the law by circumcision separated themselves from the covenant of grace, and withdrew from Christ and his free salvation. You cannot serve the Crucified and the law at the same time, for you will either stand fast in grace, or submit to the legalistic spirit, and bound yourself to thousands of deadly judgments. Whoever seeks to justify himself by himself, rejects Christ definitely.
He, who penetrates deeply into the Savior, does not become proud, nor does he pretend to be perfect in himself, but he longs for his perfection in the day when Christ will come. The perfection of salvation has begun in us, but its realization needs waiting and patience. This untroubled faith patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit who comforts us, confirming to us our righteousness and the glory to come.
This faith founded on unshaken faith in Christ is not a dependent thought, and spiritual laziness, but is full of active love. The mystery of living faith is hidden in the spiritual activity in good services, in preaching individuals, and in prayers for the others. Such faith does not mind personal things in the first place, but it frees from the bonds of selfishness to serve God in the least. There is no distinction between those that are circumcised and those that are uncircumcised. He, who needs the service, deserves it, and he, who serves practically, proves his true faith.
You may see that the problems of Paul with the lawyers are far from the problems of our age. But in fact, we live that same evil, for today, man is not completely connected with Christ, but he seeks to manage himself by himself. He lives not in faith, but in selfishness, self-love, and self-reliance. He, who seeks success and improvement, spiritually or socially, by his own diligences, crucifies Christ once again, for he is like the lawyer who does not accept the work of the power of grace in his life.
You may say: is this position not an education of dependence, and a reason for living in carelessness and indifference? We refer you to the essence of thankful faith for the sacrifice of the cross. It teaches us the thought of sacrifice through the image of the Crucified. Then we do not live for ourselves any longer, but we become free from selfishness, and serve God in the way of love, and giving our life for the others.
PRAYER: O Lord Jesus, we thank you because you died for us, and paid your precious blood for our deliverance. Help us not to return to the principles of the law, or to manage ourselves by ourselves, but to hold fast to you forever, and not cooperate with another principle at the same time. Teach us the work of your love that we may not philosophize on spiritual things, but conform the riches of your goodness to our daily life.
QUESTION:
- Why is the law automatically separated from Christ?