Have you ever received counsel that took you totally by surprise, but
that later proved invaluable in a totally different situation? I sure have. It
went like this: in the second half of 2012 I fell for a girl really strongly,
and it did not go at all according to plan; in reflecting on the results of
that situation, I detected strong idolatry I my heart towards relationships. As
such, my resolution for 2013 was, “I’m not going to date for a year.” But as it
goes with the typical twenty year old male, another girl popped up on the radar
less than 3 months into 2013. I told myself, “I have got to stick to my
resolution or else I’m not a man of my word.” I talked to my pastor about it,
and he said some words that I will never forget: “Stop it. You’re a hard-wired
legalist; you need to loosen up. Perhaps God brought this girl into your life
to be your wife? If you stick to your self-made plan, you could seriously limit
yourself. Go check out Galatians 5:1.” (It wasn’t those exact words of course,
but the basic gist of his message was just that.) I read Galatians 5:1, and
maybe the whole book as well afterwards, and since then Galatians 5:1 has been
etched in the back of my mind.
Fast forward two and a half years to the summer of 2015 and that girl is
nowhere present in my life. However, I was receiving counsel from a pastor at
another church—no longer in California, but rather in Missouri—and something
seemed very off about the counsel. The counsel was directly related to escaping
the clutches of certain sin patterns, but looking back I wouldn’t call it
counsel, I’d use a different word that starts with the letter “c.”
Condemnation. Week in and week out it was the same: if I had not stood well, it
would be a barrage of, “how can you know you are saved?” type statements; if I
had stood well, the statements sounded as if he assumed I was a new believer as
of that week. It got to the point where I was thoroughly surprised that I was
even accepted as a member of the church. Depression set in as a result of the
counsel I was receiving—counsel that was devoid of hope, counsel that was
devoid of Christ, counsel that was devoid of calling a sinner to repentance and faith in the Gospel.
One day that summer, I sat down in the park with my Bible and a notebook
and found myself in the book of Galatians. I started at the beginning and read
the whole book, but the verse that stuck out to me more than any other was
Galatians 5:1, and my pastor’s counsel from 2013 reverberated back through my
mind, “Don’t submit to the yoke this current pastor is putting on you” (the
application I discovered based on the situation and the previous counsel from
my gospel-saturated California pastor). As such, I left that church in August
of 2015, and it’s really been nothing but a nightmare ever since as far as they
are concerned (but that doesn’t need to be delved into right now).
I share all of that to explain what Paul is saying in our passage today.
It’s only one verse today, but this one verse is the hinge of the whole letter.
Everything prior leads to it, and everything after flows out of it. And, as the
lengthy intro hopefully proved, it was this verse that led me to study this
book in the first place, along with the request of a good friend who kept me
from pursuing an Old Testament book on this blog (at least so far).
Paul writes in Galatians 5:1, “Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm
then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
Most commentators want to lump this verse in with 4:21-31, which is
probably fine: I mean, it ends by saying, “We are not children of the slave but
of the free woman,” as if to say, “You have been set free.” And then Paul
concludes that section by asking, basically, “Why, then, do some of you want to
go back to being like Ishmael, who was a slave, an outcast, and separated from
God?”[1]
The subject of Galatians 5:1 is “Christ.” Christ is the one who is
responsible for the Christian’s freedom. This is very important in this day and
age where it is too easily accepted, even in Christian circles, that you gotta
do your best and let Jesus do the rest. Honestly, this was the vibe I was
getting from that church in 2015, and it harkened back to one of my first
mentors who came out of Mormonism, who told me once that one of the Mormon’s
beliefs is, “Do your best and let Jesus do the rest.” That theology has no business at all in our churches.
Like really: how much time did the thief on the cross have to do his best? (And
I know they have a theory about that, but my point still stands.) Paul hits the
nail on the head in Galatians 5:1 by saying that it is Jesus, and Jesus alone
who is responsible for the Christian’s freedom. Jesus said Himself, “Apart from
Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5), which means no thing. He said in John
8:35, “Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.” Before Christ we can’t make ourselves free,
and after Christ we can’t be more free. The subject responsible for our
freedom is Jesus, and He is the one we must hold out to people regardless of
the sin they struggle with.
What has Christ done for us according to this verse? Christ has made us
free. Luther explains,
There is also another kind
of “liberty,” when people obey neither the laws of God nor the laws of men, but
do as they please. This carnal liberty the people want in our day. We are not
now speaking of this liberty. Neither are we speaking of civil liberty.
Paul is speaking of a far better liberty, the liberty “wherewith Christ hath made us free,” not from material
bonds, not from the Babylonian captivity, not from the tyranny of the Turks,
but from the eternal wrath of God.[2]
When
I argue for the utmost importance of the liberty that Christ has brought us, I
cannot emphasize enough that this liberty does not mean that drunkenness,
sexual deviance, or using filthy language are allowable for the believer. John
Calvin said, “Our adversaries raise a prejudice against us among ignorant
people, as if the whole object of our pursuit were licentiousness, which is the
relaxation of all discipline. But wise and skillful persons are aware that this
is one of the most important doctrines connected with salvation.”[3] Paul will go on to say that
this freedom cannot possibly excuse a Christian to live in sinfulness (cf.
5:13). In fact, given that the Galatians had never been under the Law prior to
being converted, when Paul says, “Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (emphasis added), he is actively
calling their pagan practices an enslaving yoke that needs to be kept off.[4]
When I had voiced my concern to the judgmental pastor a year and a half
ago, I was told that I was wrong, because putting more emphasis on my status as a believer in
Christ would mean that I could justify my sin and would not take it seriously
as a result. Paul would be incredulous at such a response, because Paul is here
teaching, “Christ set you free! Don’t fear God as your enemy any longer! Cling
to Him as your Father!” Paul would emphasize freedom, not law, because freedom
proves Christ’s victory and law only repeatedly shows us our failures. Knowing Christ is victorious is a much
better motivator to holiness than fearing that I will mess up again!
Paul writes “to be free,” repeating the word free because he wants to
engrain it in our minds. The Galatians are free. We are free. They didn’t need
Judaism to help them be free. We don’t need lists of “thou shalt” and “thou
shalt not” to be free. We are in Christ and He won our freedom with the purpose
that we might be free. The question is: have we started truly living in this
freedom? Spend some time reflecting on that today. What enslaves you? A sin?
Maybe a good, spiritual thing done for the entirely wrong reason? Christ is our
hope! He set us free. Let’s live in that freedom.
Paul brings in a “therefore,” which proves that we needed the first four
chapters to know what this is here for. And, as such, it made my study of this
book—verse by verse—absolutely vital to doing this passage correct justice today.
One commentator said, “If Galatians is the Magna Carta of Christian liberty,
then [Galatians
5:1] has reason to be
considered one of the key verses of the epistle.”[5] A short review will suffice
to prove this point.[6]
The introduction proves that Christ gave Himself so that we can be
free—rescued “from this present evil age” (1:1-5). The next verses clearly show
that the Judaizers’ changing of the gospel is opposed to standing firm in freedom
(1:6-10). Then, in the first section of Paul’s detailed chronology, we see that
the faith Paul preached was agreed upon by the church, and is the Gospel that
is presented throughout this book (1:11-24). Paul’s second section of detailed
chronology explains that he withstood all attempts to overthrow Christian
freedom (2:1-5). Paul’s third section of chronology proves that even the
apostles agreed with Paul’s gospel of freedom (2:6-10). Paul’s final section of
chronology explains that Paul opposed anyone who undermined the gospel’s
freedom and availability to all, regardless of their “status” (2:11-14). Paul
then goes on to explicitly claim that freedom comes through justification which
is found in Christ and not in the Law (2:15-21). Paul asks a rhetorical
question in 3:1 that proves someone was guilty of placing them in this yoke of
slavery. Paul spends a lengthy amount of time differentiating between faith in the
promise and works of the Law (3:2-14). Jesus is the promise about whom the Old
Testament Law spoke (3:15-18). The Law enslaves, but Jesus frees (3:19-26).
Slaves don’t inherit, but free people do (3:27-4:7). Everyone is a slave of
something, and for that reason, everyone needs Jesus to free them (4:8-11).
Paul tells the Galatians they have to deal with God, not him, if they stay
enslaved (4:12-20). Finally, Paul even quotes the Law as proving it is better
to be free (4:21-31). And thus we arrive at 5:1.
Paul then makes a command, the first one that would have a visible
result (see 4:12 and 4:21 for the only other two commands, but notice the
difference between those and this one). I see this command being yelled by
Paul: “Stand!” In understanding the force of this command, Martin Luther is
again helpful. “‘Be steadfast, not careless. Lie not down and
sleep, but stand up. Be watchful. Hold fast the liberty wherewith Christ hath
made you free.’ Those who loll cannot keep this liberty. Satan hates the light of the
Gospel. When it begins to shine a little he fights against it with might and
main.”[7] Calvin adds, “It is an invaluable blessing, in defense of which it is our duty to fight,
even to death; since not only the highest temporal
considerations, but our eternal interests also, animate us to the contest.”[8] If we stop fighting for
freedom in Christ, it is to our detriment. If we sit down in this fight, the
Devil will overtake us and bind us down again. We must watch out for legalistic
pressure and also licentious pressure, refusing both extremes, because both
destroy our freedom.
Paul concludes the verse by telling the Galatians to not “submit again
to a yoke of slavery.” There are two things to say about this. The first is
related to how a person gets in a yoke of slavery, and the second is about the
yoke itself.
First, the verb translated “submit” is in the passive tense, meaning the
subject, the implied “you” Paul is speaking to, is being acted on instead of
doing the action. For this reason I prefer to translate it as, “be placed in.”
Slavery is something that is done to a person, not something that a person
chooses. However, as is clear in this context, Paul is warning the Galatians
that the only way to avoid being enslaved again is to stand. We must stand firm
and not allow anyone to place a restrictive, condemning collar around us.
The “yoke of slavery” Paul is talking about avoiding at all costs is
directly contrasted to another yoke mentioned in Scripture. Jesus tells of it
in Matthew 11:28-30. “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I
will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me,
because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” This is the yoke the
believer in Jesus is to wear. The burden Jesus speaks of is the burden of
walking rightly as a light in this fallen world. But this burden is light,
because He is yoked with us, walking with us and enabling us to accomplish the
task. If left to our own strength, we would fail. Paul says, “Don’t submit to a
yoke of slavery, because that yoke will kill you—fear, depression, hopelessness.
Instead, submit to Christ’s yoke which is easy and freeing, especially in
comparison to the yoke of slavery.
So with all that said, how do we stand? How do we not let ourselves be
placed back in slavery? We must preach
the Gospel to ourselves everyday. But here’s my question for you: do you
know the Gospel well enough to preach it? It can be as simple as quoting Romans
5:8 and 10:9 and recommitting yourself each morning to an active lifestyle of
saying, “The gospel is true about me because Jesus is my Lord!” or it can be as
detailed as the answer another of my California pastors gave me when I
conducted a survey this week. He said the following,
The gospel is the good news of
salvation in Jesus Christ. It is set against the bad news that all of humanity
has sinned and has fallen short of God's glory. We all sin in various ways, and
are therefore guilty before God and are at war with Him, even if we don't
realize it. Jesus came to remedy this. He is the 2nd person of the Trinity, who
came down as a man, born of a virgin (thus not inheriting the sin nature), and
lived a perfectly obedient life to God. On the appointed day, He traded places
with sinners by dying on the cross. There, the Father poured His wrath on the
Son for our sins. After Jesus paid all the debt of everyone who would ever
believe in Him, He died, thus completing the transaction. On the third day, He
rose from the dead, was glorified, and later ascended to the right hand of the
Father. Everyone who places their trust in Jesus and surrenders to Him as Lord
will be saved. So the fornicator can get right with God by simply trusting
Jesus for salvation, and believing that Christ truly paid His debt and truly
conquered death. If the fornicator gives his heart to the Lord, then his sins
will be forgiven.[9]
The Reformation claimed that salvation was in Christ alone by grace
alone through faith alone. The emphasis of our gospel preaching must be on faith. It cannot be on the
visible repentance that necessarily follows true faith. If we preach and teach
about true belief, people will understand true repentance. If we had to repent
before we could be saved, then we’d never be saved because the Christian life
is a life of continual repentance. Until my dying day, I’ll be repenting, but
it is my faith, placed squarely in the finished work of Jesus—who set me
free—on July 1, 2010, that made me right with God. True faith leads to freedom,
and true freedom is held onto by repentance, and true repentance is the other
side of the coin that is faith.
The answer to the question, “How do I get right with God?” does not change if someone has two
decades to live as opposed to two minutes. Belief in the finished work of Jesus
is all that is required. Anyone who teaches otherwise needs to be thrown out of
their pulpits, question their calling to ministry, and ask themselves, “Have I
really placed my faith in Christ alone for salvation, or am I secretly also trusting
myself?” This is why I left that church a year and a half ago: they weren’t
pointing me to Christ’s yoke, but rather to a yoke of slavery. If you’re in a
church that is similar, find one that places Christ primary, that preaches the
gospel, and that pleads with people to believe. Only then can you stand safe
against a possible lapse under a yoke of slavery.
I conclude with lyrics from Hillsong’s song, “Christ is Enough.” The
bridge says, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.”[10] That’s my anthem. Is it
yours? I pray it is, as I pray that it
becomes such for every church in this nation that we call America.
Til next time.
Soli Deo
Gloria. Solus Christus.
[1]
John MacArthur, Galatians, 128.
[3]
John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles
of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians.
[4] J.
B. Lightfoot, The Epistle of St. Paul to
the Galatians, 185. Commenting on “again”: “Having escaped from the slavery
of Heathenism, they would fain bow to the slavery of Judaism.”
[5]
Quoted in David Platt and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered
Exposition – Exalting Jesus in Galatians, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin,
Tony Merida, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2014), WORDsearch
CROSS e-book, 96.
[6] I
will stick to sections, even though I could argue almost verse by verse at
points how everything in this letter screams, “5:1 is the thesis statement.”
[7] Martin
Luther, A Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians.
[8]
John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles
of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians.
[9]
Stephen Feinstein, in an email to the author, January 11, 2017.
[10]
Hillsong Live, “Christ Is Enough,” (© 2013 Hillsong Church), 4:16.
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