Study of Galatians Part 13 - Galatians 5:1-6

Last week, we heard Paul using events from Genesis, a part of the Book of the Law, to explain that the family line of promise would run only through Abraham and Sarah’s son, Isaac, and not through a son, Ishmael, born against God’s will, through Abraham and Hagar. The coming Savior of the world, Jesus, would be a descendant only of Isaac, as God had promised (Galatians 4:21-31). The emphasis and hope are upon the promises of God and not upon the ability of people to follow and obey God’s laws.

See a similar emphasis in Hebrews 12:18-24, in the New Testament. The coming of the Old Testament Law and the Old Covenant was a fearful event, even though the Law was important (Hebrews 12:18-21). The coming of Jesus and the New Covenant was a joyful event, because it ultimately brought Jesus as the “Mediator” between God and man. Jesus shed His “sprinkled blood” on the cross to make payment for all our sins; and through His perfect life and death for us, we are counted “as the righteous made perfect” through Him, by faith in Him, according to the promises of God (Hebrews 12:22-24). (See the description of Jesus as the Mediator for us and for all, in 1 Timothy 2:1-6, as well.) Our own efforts to keep the Law are not part our being saved, as Paul has been emphasizing throughout his letter to the Galatians.    

Here is one more related comment on the idea of using an “allegory” (Galatians 4:23-26). This is the only example of the use of an “allegory” in the Scriptures, and Paul did this as the Holy Spirit inspired him to write this. Paul did not question the truth and reliability of the Old Testament events in Genesis and made only the application God intended, with support from other Scriptures.

Unfortunately, later interpreters of the Bible began to find all sorts of other “allegories” in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament and drifted far away from what the Scriptures actually taught. Parts of the Bible became more like Aesop’s fables. Stories, true or not in their view, simply became a way of making a point they wanted to make about our lives and what we should be doing. Many church leaders condemned this kind of use of allegorical interpretation, and conservative Lutheran churches have always been against this, too. So, be very cautious, when people start talking about other allegories in the Bible.    

Let’s go back, then, to Galatians 5:1, where Paul makes his application of all that he has been saying to the situation with the Galatians. He wrote, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore” in that truth, “and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Paul was talking, as the Scriptures do in many other places, about the freedom from the condemnation that our sins and failures bring to us.

See, for example, John 8:31-36. Jesus said, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). Everyone, including Jews and us, are slaves of sins on our own, and cannot free ourselves. We can only be free from the condemnation of sin if Jesus, the Son of God, forgives us and sets us free, by His saving work. (John 8:31-36).

See also Romans 8:1-4. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Paul said this earlier in Galatians 3:10-14. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” taking the curse of sin upon Himself and giving us the blessings promised to Abraham, so long ago (Galatians 3:13-14).

All this is accomplished for us already through Jesus, and we are blessed with these gifts as we are simply brought to faith in Jesus and continue to trust in Him, through God’s Holy Spirit. What Paul did not want is that the Galatians would believe the false teaching that they needed to do additional things themselves to be saved - especially to be circumcised. For then they would be slaves again to many more laws and rule of the Old Covenant and new rules that Jews had made up for themselves.

Paul said it very bluntly in Galatians 5:2-4, “If you accept circumcision” as a necessary act on your part for salvation, then “Christ will be of no advantage to you.” For then you would be “obligated to keep the whole law” and “are severed from Christ” and “have fallen away from grace” - the grace of God that can never be earned by our efforts. In effect, you would be saying to Jesus, “You have not done enough to save me, Jesus. I must get circumcised and do many, many other things to earn or merit salvation for myself. Then I will be truly saved, by my additional efforts in obeying these laws.”

Paul already warned about this in Galatians 2:21. He did not want to “nullify the grace of God” by saying that Jesus had failed to do what he needed to do to save us. “For if righteousness were through (our keeping of) the law” - through circumcision and all sorts of other laws and rules - “then Christ died for no purpose.”

We would be saying that Jesus did not do enough for us. We would be saying that we have to add to what He did and thus help pay for our sins ourselves. Then, we would be trusting Jesus, plus ourselves and our efforts for salvation - and what we do would be the crucial part of our ultimate salvation. And we would always be wondering, “Have I done enough? What if I have missed some things? What more must I do?” And we would be left with uncertainty about whether we really are saved or not.    

This is the opposite of what the Scriptures say regarding our salvation. Read John 3:16-18. Listen to Ephesians 2:1-10. Note that there is not a word about our efforts contributing to our salvation by our keeping all of God’s laws. Good works are mentioned in Ephesians 2:10, but they are a response to God’s already completed saving work, and we will talk about that in weeks to come.

We can be certain about our salvation and eternal future - not based on our efforts, but entirely upon Jesus and His saving work for us. Read 1 John 5:11-13. Finally, read Galatians 5:5-6. Through the working of God’s Holy Spirit, we live “by faith” in Jesus and “eagerly wait” for the fulfillment of all God’s promises in Him (Galatians 5:5).     

If we are in Christ, by faith and His love, it does not matter whether we are circumcised or not (Galatians 5:6). It is Christ who makes the difference for us. Paul is not saying that if baby boys are circumcised for hygienic purposes that they are cut off from Christ. Paul had been circumcised as an infant himself, while he still followed Judaism. Paul had even encouraged a Gentile, Timothy, to be circumcised, simply because it would be easier for him to be accepted and get a fair hearing when he witnessed to Jewish people (Acts 16:1-5). In none of these cases, though, were people required to be circumcised for their personal salvation; nor was it ever taught that people must be circumcised or to follow other such rules in order to be earn or complete their salvation.      

This is the key. Christ has already done enough to save us, as we simply trust in Him. We do not need to add anything to what He has done or do further works to earn our salvation. We have certainty, not in ourselves and our efforts in any way, but in Christ Jesus our Savior alone. Read Romans 3:21-24 and 27-28, in closing.