Unit 3: Liberating Letters
Key Verse:
Galatians 5:14 NLT
14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
You are deeply loved. Demonstrate that in your actions toward others.
What you need to know
Romans 3:19 NLT
19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God.
Paul is nothing, if not consistent. Regarding the law of Moses, Paul made sure everyone understood his message. The law was a mirror to all of mankind (saved and unsaved).
Romans 3:20 NLT
20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
So then, the law of Moses cannot save. Additionally, the law cannot keep. If righteousness does not come by the law, then righteousness cannot be maintained by the law. Many make the mistake of believing that once you are saved, you can now, by the Spirit, keep the law. But to what end? If the law does not make one right, what’s the point?
Romans 3:21-22 NLT
21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses[i] and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
No righteousness can only come by faith in Christ Jesus. It’s that same faith that keeps you safely sealed in the eternal Kingdom of God. After all, faith is the substance of things not seen, the evidence of our hope. Our hope is in Christ alone.
Romans 3:23 NLT
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
After all, all of us have sinned. And we will continue to sin. We all fall short of God’s standard. Why? Because the law of Moses was never the standard. Nor will it ever be.
The Lesson
Galatians 5:1 NLT
1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
So whether Paul is addressing the church at Rome or whether he is addressing the young church at Galatia, he is consistent in his warning not to return to servitude under the law of Moses. We must not. Whom the Lord has set free by the shedding of His own blood is now free indeed. We sometimes act as though Christ did not die on the cross. He gave His life for us!
Galatians 5:2 NLT
2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you.
So then, that law thing. Stop it. Stop looking in the rearview mirror. Put the law behind you. No one can drive forward, looking back. Those who would return to the law of Moses nullify the sacrifice of Christ on their own behalf.
Galatians 5:3 NLT
3 I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses.
Righteousness could never be attained by the law. It was impossible, even for Moses. Paul only speaks to the incapacity of the law to save. Sadly, many believe that they can keep the law once saved. But, the law is only a mirror. It’s as if they seek to prove to God that now that they are saved, they will be perfect. Perfection is not attainable. The law continues to preach that to us. To this day.
Galatians 5:4 NLT
4 For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.
Fearfully, Paul implores his readers to repent (re-return to + pent=the highest place), lest they fall away from grace. Beloved, it is by grace that we are saved. Grace alone. We must not allow our attention to be diverted from grace by the law. It is a death sentence. It is a return to slavery. It’s not about sin,... but it is.
Galatians 5:5-6 NLT
5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. 6 For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.
So then, we wait for the manifestation of the righteousness that we have received by faith. If we wait for it, we wait in faith, with the eager expectation that what God has promised, He is able to perform. Beloved, this is not about not sinning. It’s about walking by faith. Oh, wait! And faith operates by love.
Galatians 5:7 NLT
7 You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?
So then, pursuit of the law of Moses diverges from the path of truth. Paul sets forth a choice: the law… or faith? You can’t have both. Choose wisely.
Galatians 5:8 NLT
8 It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom.
Be reminded. God is not confused. He gave the law until the truth could be revealed. Now that truth has been revealed in the person of Christ, God has turned His attention to Christ. When Peter offered to build three tabernacles on Mt. Tabor, he reasoned that it made sense to build an edifice in honor of Moses (the law), one for Elijah (the Prophets and the Writings), and a final one for Jesus (Grace). God answered from Heaven, “This is My Beloved Son. He ye Him!” In essence, God declared Jesus greater than the law and the prophets. Much greater.
Galatians 5:9 NLT
9 This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough!
In every possible way, Paul expresses his point. A return to the law is poison to the soul. It ruins one’s ability to thrive in the ‘Christian’ experience. A little leaven leavens the entire batch of dough, rendering it worthless.
Galatians 5:10 NLT
10 I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you.
I love the way Paul writes. He always ministers mercy. He encourages his listeners by easing them off the hook. He effectively offers them a blind eye, telling them that he, too, is making a choice. He chooses to believe the best about them and for them, declaring them righteous in spite of their failings, trusting that God will indeed be merciful on their behalf. However, he thoroughly condemns those who would lead one of God’s chosen astray. They may as well tie a millstone around their own necks.
Galatians 5:11 NLT
11 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised—as some say I do—why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended.
Paul continues to argue his case by pointing out that the Judaizers are lying about him, telling people that Paul himself is guilty of preaching circumcision. Nothing could be further from the truth, as evidenced by the fact that he is being physically assaulted by those very same Judaizers at every turn. Obviously, Paul wasn’t preaching circumcision. He was preaching Christ.
Galatians 5:12 NLT
12 I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves.
No, Paul is not offering an olive branch to those who opposed him. In so doing, he draws a sharp distinction between his position in Christ and their position outside of Christ. It is a vast space that cannot be spanned by human effort. They are lost. Paul wishes that they would experience temporal torment on par with the curse that they preached and made themselves subject to by adhering to the law of Moses.
Galatians 5:13 NLT
13 For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.
Finally, Paul mentions sin. As in, ‘sin’, the behavior, and the penalty thereof, from which we are being saved. Notice that Paul properly acknowledges our sinful nature. Beloved, we are born in sin and shaped in iniquity. We are, then, trapped in these sinful bodies until Christ is revealed in us when this ‘old man’ is finally laid to rest or separated from us by God, when we are rewarded with our new spiritual bodies in Eternity. Beloved, we are followers of Christ. Let us be about the business of following him, not succumbing to our sinful nature. Sins will come. Rest assured that for the believer, Christ has already forgiven them. Once, only once for all time. Let us use our freedom then, to serve one another in love. By this, men will know that we are Christ’s disciples, and… children of God… by faith in Christ and his finished work on the cross.
Galatians 5:14 NLT
14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.
So now, Paul seeks a response. Having been reassured that God’s love for them is pure and unextinguishable, defined by the very definition of grace; God’s undeserved and unmerited favor, what does God expect from them? Love. God expects them to love their neighbor, whoever that is, as they love themselves. Beloved, this is our calling. We are to stop with the fearful looking toward judgment because we missed it here or there because love…covers a multitude of sins. God has demonstrated His great love for us. He gave us His Son. Let us then follow Christ’s example, not by dying for him (works), but by living for him (grace), motivated by love in everything that we do.
Galatians 5:15 NLT
15 But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.
Beloved, love intends no harm. Let us love one another, building one another up in the faith. Let us encourage one another in this faith as we anticipate the Lord’s soon return…by faith.
Selah,
wb
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
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